And the Beat Goes On: Book Three
by Dreamweaver4121
Summary: As one problem is dealt with, another one literally comes crashing into the lives of Ukyou & Ryouga. Ranma has his long awaited deul with Mousse. And another new individual arrives putting the Kuno household in turmoil.
1. Spring is In the Air

Those foolish kids. Look at what they did to his beautiful school!

Principal Kuno surveyed the damage done by Ryouga and Hayate's fight from his office window. It was worse than anything Ranma ever did. All of those martial artist kids act as if they own the place and have no qualms about demolishing it. He still had nightmares about the time where they were fighting that demon girl and they blew the school to bits. He swore if it was the last thing he would do, he was going to teach them a thing or two about humility. He bet if they had to attend school completely bald for a couple of weeks that would bring them down a notch or two. Maybe then, they would be too humbled to destroy anything.

Navigating his way through the tropical paradise that was his office, he sat down at his desk and fingered his favorite pair of hair trimmers and smiled sadistically. Unfortunately, he would have to see to his trouble students later. There was other school business he would have to attend to first. Putting his shears in his desk drawer, he picked up a stack of mail and began thumbing through them.

Most of the letters were the usual junk mail. More companies were trying to get the school to convert to their textbooks. More private contractors were trying to take business away from N-MARC for the constant repairs that had to be made to the school. Of course, these guys would be charging the school directly for their work and the school just didn't have that much in its budget. Besides, N-MARC was probably the only good thing the stupid local government was spending their tax money on and they did good work. There was no way he was going to switch from them to a questionable private company.

Wait a minute...what was this? A post card? From the United States? Now this was interesting. He had made quite a few friends while he was in Hawaii, but he didn't recall giving any of them the address of his school. Who could've gone through so much trouble to send this to him? He looked at the picture on the back and smiled. It had a beautiful view of a garden-like field with the Pacific Ocean in the background. Such fond memories he had of that time. He flipped the card over and read the note that was written.

"Oh no..." he said, his bottom lip trembling. He shoved the rest of his mail aside, put his phone in the center of the desk and pressed the intercom button to speak to his administrative assistant. "Please summon Tatewaki Kuno to my office! It's an emergency!"

"Yes sir," said the voice on the other side.

He sat back in his chair and adjusted the shades that covered his worried eyes. He had no illusions as to what his son's reaction would be when he heard the news. But what about Kodachi? How was she going to react when she found out about this? One thing was certain...in the next week or so, all hell was going to break loose upon the Kuno household...

-o-

Dreamweaver Studios Presents

Ranma½

And the Beat Goes On

"Spring is in the Air"

-o-

In the front of Furinkan high school, Mousse trudged his way homeward wondering what deity he offended to cause him to suffer the way he was. All he intended to do that day was to deliver his challenge to Ranma. He had hoped to duel that day, but it looked as though the school had already endured a fearsome battle, so it was scheduled for the weekend at an alternate location. He would've left right then and there, but Akane, sweet girl she was, offered him some lunch. Since he was so exited that day that he left home without eating, he accepted her offer without hesitation.

What in the world, he wondered, was that concoction she fed him? There was no way in the world that stuff could have really been food. He leaned on what was left of the school's outer fence and tried to take deep breaths. He began to have doubts as to his ability to make it home so he could collapse onto his bed. Fortunately, he was prepared for such situations. He took out the thermos filled with hot water he kept in his robe for Jusenkyo emergencies and poured some of it into the cap. Next, he took out a tea bag Autumn gave him. She said it worked wonders for the stomach and since it was doing cartwheels inside him, he figured now would be the best time to try her remedy.

Dropping the tea bag into the water, he took a huge gulp. Mousse smiled as he could feel the tea working already, turning his sharp pain into a dull ache. Now he understood why Ranma said what he did. You'd need an iron stomach to eat from that iron chef. At least now, he felt strong enough to get home. Hopefully, after a few days rest, he would feel good enough to have his fight with the pigtailed martial artist.

-THOOM!-

Oh brother, it never stops, does it? An explosion from behind the school, huh? As much as his common sense told him to forget about it and just get home to bed, he had to investigate. He had to make sure nothing happened to Ranma before their fight that weekend. When he finally defeated him, he didn't want there to be any excuses. When he got to where the explosion apparently came from, he found a small crowd had gathered blocking the hole. He pushed his way through and found Ranma and Akane standing near the front of the crowd.

"Yo, Mousse," said Ranma. "You're still here?"

"Yeah," responded Mousse. "When I heard the explosion, I had to come back to see what was going on. I was hoping you weren't involved. I want to make sure you're in tip top shape for our fight."

"Speakin' of which, you're not lookin' so hot yourself, man. You okay?"

"I'll be fine. I've already taken something for the poison I ate."

Akane glared at him, "What was that?"

"So, what's happening here?" asked Mousse, quickly changing the subject.

"That's what we're trying to find out," said Ranma.

Inside the nurse's office, the situation was getting tenser by the moment. Ukyou had a deep scowl on her face and was cracking her knuckles, looking to hand out generous portions of pain to anyone who looked at her the wrong way. And, apparently, there were two people in front of her that were looking very wrong. One of them, Ryouga Hibiki, already looking as though he fought a meat grinder and lost, had a confused and nervous expression on his face, glancing back and fourth at her and the second girl who's head was resting all too comfortably on his chest.

"So Ryouga," Ukyou said through her clenched teeth, "when are you going to introduce me to your new friend here?"

"W-well," Ryouga stammered, "she's not a friend...not exactly..."

The girl turned and regarded Ukyou for the first time, "That's right. We're not just friends. I'm his girlfriend. And I'll be much more than that soon!" At the girl's comment, Ukyou's teeth grinded together, sounding like metal scraping against metal.

Ranma leaned in and whispered to Akane, "Well, I guess we know how Ukyou feels about this. Look at how jealous she is."

Akane nodded, "Yeah, but this new girl is going to complicate things. Just who in the world is she anyway?"

Recognizing the second girl immediately, Mousse slapped his forehead and felt as though he was going to throw up again. "I don't believe it...Spring!"

Hearing her name, the ninja girl looked up. "Hey Mousse!"

"You're here just a couple of days and you're causing trouble already?"

Spring pointed at Ukyou, "She's the one that wants trouble. I just want to spend time with _my_ man!" She squeezed Ryouga closer for emphasis, causing him to wince from his injuries.

"YOUR MAN?" roared Ukyou. She turned around and everyone in the crowd took a step back, frightened by the 'I want to mutilate someone NOW' look she had in her eyes. "Mousse, just who the hell is this girl?"

He scratched the back of his head, "Er...her name's Spring. She's Autumn's younger sister."

Ranma blinked, "You mean she's an Amazon too?"

Ryouga's eyes widened, finally understanding what he had inadvertently gotten himself in to. "Erm, Spring, was it? Look, you gotta believe me! What happened before, that WAS a fluke! It didn't really count!"

She shook her head, "Oh no! Don't try to sell yourself as weak now. Like I said, I saw your fight earlier and I know how strong you really are. Now that I have you, I'm not letting you go!"

"So this was the 'hot guy' you were going on about before?" asked Mousse. "Just how in the world did you meet him anyway?"

"I met him in a bath house. Somehow he managed to sneak in on the girl's side."

Ukyou was shocked, "WHAT? YOU PERVERT!"

Akane was shocked as well, "I don't believe it...I always thought Ryouga was one of the good guys. But, he's a pervert too?"

"No, no, no!" Ryouga repeated vehemently. "That's not how it happened! I didn't sneak into the girl's side...not purposely anyway..."

-Flashback-

It was a lovely day in...wherever the world Ryouga was. The air was crisp and damp, as it had just finished raining. If it weren't for his little piggy problem, he would've loved to splash around in the rain to get rid of some of the grit and grime he was covered in. But with things as they were, he wondered in town aimlessly looking for a bathhouse. He would've hated to run into Akane in such a state.

Still, dirty or not, he had to get back to Nerima as quickly as possible. He had no idea why, but he felt that Akane was in danger somehow, something much worse than anything she had been involved in. For him to have had that bad of a premonition, the trouble had to have been supernatural in nature. Of course, it could have all been in his head. But since such things were quite common in that area, he wanted to be close, just to make sure.

He came up to an intersection and stopped, waiting for the light to change. At that moment, a car drove passed, splashing through a puddle as it did so. Ryouga glared at the car as it disappeared into traffic. He cursed his rotten luck; after all he had to do to stay human through the storm itself, he still managed to get changed thanks to that stupid, inconsiderate driver. Shaking his head and having no choice but to abandon his gear, he continued on, hoping to find that bathhouse. He would have to return for his things later.

After a short while of walking, he had to stop to rest for a bit. He must have been walking for days before entering that town and his little legs were getting tired. He looked around to see if he could find something that looked even vaguely familiar. To his surprise, he found he was in a building of some sort. He cursed again. His lack of direction was always worse while in his alternate form, as his human brain found it difficult to relate to his piggish perspective.

"Hey! Look at this!" Ryouga looked behind him with a start at the bubbly feminine voice, finding himself being hoisted up before he could react. He was hoping he hadn't wandered into another women's bathroom in some school or office building.

"Oh, it's so cute!" said another girl.

"Where did you find it?" asked a third.

"I just found it wandering around in here. I think it's somebody's pet," went the first.

"Why would you say that?" the third girl asked.

"Just look at the ribbon wrapped around its neck. It has to be," the first girl said. Ryouga scowled. It was a bandanna, after all, not a ribbon.

"It was probably abandoned," said the second girl. "I didn't notice anyone looking for their pet pig. Besides, look at it. It's filthy." Involuntarily, Ryouga's little stomach growled. "Sounds like it's hungry too."

"You're right," said the first. "Oooh, you poor thing," she said to the pig. "Don't you worry. Since we're here, I'll get you cleaned up first. After that, I'll take you home and get you something to eat." She held him lovingly to her bosom, covered only by a towel.

Towel? Even if he were in a public bathroom, why would she only be dressed in a towel? Ryouga looked at the other girls and noted only towels covered them as well. They walked through a doorway that was shrouded by a curtain and Ryouga noticed the humidity level increased exponentially. Taking in his new surroundings, he found sinks and stools all over, with a large pool at the farthest end of the room. And there were women all over the place...women of various shapes, sizes and ages, either wrapped in a towel or completely naked. He blushed fiercely as realization hit him. He found that bathhouse he was looking for. And right now, he was suck on the wrong side.

The girl that held him sat down on one of the stools, took the spray nozzle and turned on the cold water, showering some of the dirt away from Ryouga's tiny form. As she did so, the other two girls removed their towels, sat down next to them and began scrubbing themselves. The blush intensified to a full on nosebleed and P-Chan passed out.

The second girl looked at it, "Did the pig just pass out when he looked at us?"

The third girl grinned, "Geez, no wonder you can't get a boyfriend. Even little animals faint after seeing that flabby body of yours!"

"Shut up," went the second, sticking her tongue out.

The first girl scrubbed P-Chan's little body clean, but it began to quiver from the constant contact with the water. "There you go, little guy. All clean. Now, we just need to take care of that chill." She looked over to the second girl and handed P-Chan over to her, "I still need to scrub myself off. Take him over to the heated pool with you, please?"

"Sure, no problem," she said. Ryouga's eyes snapped back open. All embarrassment went away as a sense of panic almost literally washed over him. He started to struggle, trying to get away, knowing what a ruckus it would cause once he hit the hot water. Unfortunately, since he was in that tiny form, the girl was far too strong for him. "Geez, what's wrong with this thing? You'd think it was afraid of the water or something."

"Well, that can't be it," said the third girl, who was walking with the second. "After all, it didn't put up that much of a fuss when it was getting washed off."

The second girl shrugged as she stepped into the pool. "Well, it I don't know why you're so panicky all of a sudden, but there's nothing to worry about. Here," She sat down in the water and dipped the pig's body in as well. Suddenly, there was a huge weight gain in the pig and it slipped out of her hands. She gasped, "Oh no!"

"What happened?" went the third girl.

"I dropped the pig!"

"You dropped it?" She looked around the surface of the water and noticed the pig wasn't surfacing. There weren't even any bubbles to give them a clue where it could've gotten. She went in the water too and began to feel around for it. "We have to find it before it drowns!"

Not far away, Ryouga poked his, now human, head out of the water and looked at the girls searching frantically for 'P-Chan'. He could see the worry in their faces and felt bad for having to do this to them. But he couldn't afford to get caught. While they were drawing all of the attention to themselves, he was going to slip out. Hopefully, he would exit the building with no one noticing him. He stood completely out of the water...and ran right into the first girl.

For what seemed like an eternity, they silently locked eyes with each other. She looked him up and down, blushing profusely, especially with the 'down' portion. Immediately, he covered himself as best as he could and begged her, "Don't scream...please don't scream." To which she responded, of course, by screaming.

Everyone in the room turned to look at what the screaming was about. There was a man on the women's side of the bathhouse. He was an extremely rugged, extremely handsome man to be sure, but a man nonetheless. There was only one proper response that was called for in this situation. Every woman gathered picked up the nearest thing that wasn't nailed to the ground and started throwing it at him. Once again, self-preservation overrode modesty/embarrassment as Ryouga covered his head to protect himself against the incoming objects. Not one to be an easy target, he began to run, hoping beyond hope he'd stumble into the exit. Instead, he stumbled into 'her' walking into the bathing area...

Spring stood three inches shorter than he did, with short hair the same color as Akane's, parted on the top and with four points sticking upwards in back. She was clad only in a towel as well, but for some reason, she only wore it around her waist. When she caught sight of Ryouga, she raised an eyebrow and looked him up and down, licking her lips as she did so. A shiver went up Ryouga's spine, feeling the way he did when a predator looked him over while he was in his pig form.

The girl shook her head and looked at him again with a more serious expression on her face. "Normally, I wouldn't mind having such a cute guy walking in on me while I'm taking a bath," she said. "But you have no business being in the women's side of a public bath!" She got into a fighting stance. "I'm kicking you out of here! Literally!"

"No! Wait!" went Ryouga, trying to beg off, but the new girl wouldn't have any of it. She attacked him with straight slashing strikes, using her hands like knives. Still being in panic mode, Ryouga could only manage to dodge her blows, backing away from her. Fortunately for him, all of the other women in the area had stopped throwing stuff at him and were just passively watching now.

For her part, Spring couldn't help but be impressed by this guy and not just because of his...physical attributes. He was expertly dodging all of her attacks like she was a rank amateur. Clearly, he wasn't just some ordinary guy. That just meant she would have to kick things up a notch. She reared herself back and shot herself forward so fast, she became a blur to the untrained eyes of the audience. Ryouga could still track her movements, but he was caught off guard by her amazing speed, leaving him open to a full forced open palm strike to his chest that knocked him back into the rear wall next to the huge tub.

Ryouga rubbed the spot where she hit him, "Ow...that really stung!"

"KIAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!" Ryouga looked up and found her in mid air, launching a flying kick meant to put his head through the wall. With no other direction to go, Ryouga did the only thing he could do...duck. Spring's eyes went wide, seeing nothing between her and the wall. "Uh oh..."

-WHAM!-

As Spring, now planted face first into the wall, slowly slid down to ground level, Ryouga ran out the exit as fast as he could.

-End Flashback-

"...And that's what happened, honest!" said Ryouga, carefully editing out the part where he turned into a pig, of course.

Spring smiled and nuzzled his chest again, "Yep, that's exactly how it happened. He beat me fair and square and now, we're going to be married!"

"NO!" went Ryouga, trying to push her off. "I'm telling you, it was an accident!" He looked to the crowd for help.

"Hey, don't look at me," Ranma said. "My whole thing with Shampoo started with an accident." Mousse shrugged, unable to say anything of real value either.

Spring wrapped her arms around Ryouga's neck, smiled at him and said, "You can't get out of this, honey. I have three thousand years of Amazon tradition on my side." She ran a finger down the contour of his jaw. "There's no need to be shy or afraid. Trust me, you're going to _love_ it!" She closed her eyes and slowly moved in to kiss him again.

Ukyou growled and turned to Akane, "Hey, I don't have my spatula with me. Mind if I borrow a mallet?"

Akane wanted to protest, but she couldn't come up with anything. Truth be told, she'd do the same thing in her position. With a shrug, she reached into wherever it was she kept her mallets and pulled out a particularly nasty one.

The chef took the blunt instrument in hand and smiled at the mass. She'd have to figure out how the Tendo girls did that. With a sinister smile, she turned her attention back to her employee and his new bride-to-be. Ryouga looked back and forth between the girl that had him in the loving death grip and the other girl who apparently wished that death upon him. He just closed his eyes and turned his head, waiting for the inevitable, whatever it was.

-WHAM!-

That was it? Strange. He didn't even feel a thing. No, that wasn't true; in actuality, he felt as if a weight had been lifted from his shoulders. Cautiously, he opened one eye and chanced a peek to see what happened. He found Spring sprawled out on the floor in front of him with a giant lump on her head. In front of him, Ukyou had the mallet leaning over her shoulder and a satisfied smirk on her face. He wiped the sweat off his brow. "Whew, for a moment, I thought you were going to hit me."

She looked at him, "Oh, don't worry sugar. I got one for you too."

-WHAM!-

With the two of them laid out, Ukyou handed the mallet back to Akane. "Thanks. I feel much better now," she said sweetly.

"Erm...sure," went Akane, putting the mallet back.

Looking at the situation in front of him, Ranma couldn't help but smile, "Wow, it's almost like watching my life play out in front of me. Only I'm not the me in the middle of it!"

Mousse looked at him, "That made absolutely no sense whatsoever."

With a sigh, Akane lamented, "I still can't believe it...she wouldn't mind having a guy walk in on her...what, is this town a magnet for perverts or something?"

"Aw, come off it. You got no room to be callin' anyone a pervert anymore," said Ranma. "I mean, what about all those times you grabbed me and-"

Akane clasped her hand over Ranma's mouth. "Shut up about that, would you?" she whispered, blushing furiously. She looked at everyone else, "Don't mind him, he's just being an idiot again."

"Hurmph Hummmph!" went Ranma indignantly, his mouth still covered.

Groggily, Spring woke up and stood back on her shaky legs. With a hand on her throbbing head, she shot Ukyou a mean glare. Ukyou returned the glare with her smirk. "Awake already, huh? I guess you want some more!" The ninja girl gingerly glided over to the okonomiyaki chef, tilted the girl's head slightly and gave her a kiss on the cheek. Ukyou froze in a state of shock, while the others gathered gasped. With a rather evil smile, Spring disappeared in a blur.

"She...she..." Ukyou put her hand to her cheek. "SHE KISSED ME! BLECH! THAT'S DISGUSTING!" She took a handkerchief and started scrubbing her face furiously. "I KNEW SHE WAS A PERVERT, BUT C'MON!"

"That was the kiss of death," informed Mousse. "It doesn't matter what tribe they come from, Amazon women are quite proud. They feel they're supposed to be the best warrior women anywhere. That Spring was knocked out at your hands was a serious stain on her pride. She gave you the kiss of death as a promise to track you to the ends of the earth and kill you."

"Oh, is that all?" went Ukyou with a sigh of relief. "Now that I can handle. She won't have to go that far. I'll be right here and I'll be more than happy to hand out as many ass whippings as she's willing to take!" She scratched her head, "That's funny, though. With all the times I kicked Shampoo's butt, I'm surprised she hasn't done that to me too..."

---oo---

"AH-CHOO!" Shampoo stopped washing the dishes she was doing to scratch her nose. She wondered idly who was talking about her. And why did she have that sudden urge to find the 'spatula girl' and punch her good?

----oo----oo----oo----oo----

----oo----oo----oo----oo----


	2. Too Close for Comfort

"Ryouga?"

"Yep," said Mousse.

Autumn couldn't believe what she was hearing. She sat down on the couch in her upstairs living room and rubbed the brow of her nose. "Ryouga Hibiki?"

"Yep," Mousse said again.

"The 'so sad he nearly blew up the entire town' Ryouga Hibiki?"

"Yep."

Autumn looked at Spring with an incredulous expression on her face. "I can't believe you! What in the world are you thinking?" Her younger sister looked at her with a lecherous grin. Autumn shook her head, "Ugh, never mind. I KNOW what you're thinking. I just don't understand how you could set your heart...or WHATEVER on him?"

"Are you kidding?" asked Spring. "Have you seen that bod of his?"

The elder sister raised an eyebrow and looked towards Mousse. "I'm rather happily involved, actually. So there's only one 'bod' I've been interested in." Mousse blushed.

Spring looked Mousse over again and nodded, "I know what you mean. But Ryouga is absolutely scrumptious! And I saw him in ALL of his glory." She thought back to the time they met at the bathhouse and started to drool. "Oh man, he's built like a mountain and I can't wait to climb him!" She shook her head clear and continued, "Besides, he did defeat me and according to the law of our tribe, he's earned the right to my hand in marriage...and everything else too." She grinned again.

"I suppose there's no getting around that," admitted Autumn. "He's not exactly the happiest guy around, though. I bet he could find the dark cloud in every silver lining."

"No worries there," the younger sister said. "I know I can bring him out of that. All he needs is a little of my special brand of TLC. My only real concern in all of this is that Ukyou girl. It seems she has feelings for him too and intends on getting in my way." She pulled out her sword, "Of course, any girl who gets in the way of my heart's desire will dealt with severely. Time for the hunt!"

"Erm...could you at least wait till morning to cause more trouble?" asked Mousse.

Before he could blink, she sheathed her sword and had her arms wrapped around his neck. "Are you offering to..._tuck_ me in?" Mousse sweatdropped and looked at his fiancée, worried.

"Hey," Autumn said, standing up with a slightly irritated look on her face. "You're supposed to ask MY permission first."

"That's right," went Mousse. "I can't just do that to...wait, what?"

-

Dreamweaver Studios Presents

Ranma½

And the Beat Goes On

"Too Close for Comfort"

-

Kuno sat in his room, meditating on the situation the family has found itself in.

Soon, _she_ would be there.

It seemed fortune has frowned upon him again. Not long ago, he was gifted with the power to finally defeat the knave, Saotome, freeing Akane Tendo and his precious pigtailed girl from the knave's clutches. All that was left was for him to perfect those skills and he was certain Saotome would be brought to heel once and for all. But with the news delivered by his father earlier that day, nothing was certain any longer.

What now?

The news was so disconcerting; he couldn't even finish his meditation. He was so close to his goals, he could taste it. He knew once she arrived, she would do everything she could to sabotage his designs. His loves would be lost to him forever, unless he was to do something before her arrival. Unfortunately, he was so out of sorts from the initial shock, he couldn't think of anything no matter how hard he tried.

He went over to his window overlooking the garden in their back yard. It was so peaceful...the calm before the coming storm. There was no way in the world he wanted to be mixed up in any of that again. Something clicked in his mind. There was one thing he could do, but he didn't relish the thought. Such a thing was the coward's way out, not the path of one of the noble Kuno lineage. But then, as they say, discretion was the better part of valor. Besides which, none of the other 'solutions' he came up with were feasible anyway. There was no other choice for him.

With his decision made, he began to pack.

----+----+----+----+----

The next school day came and went rather uneventfully. It was nice to actually have something resembling a normal school day with no demons, no rivals, no ninjas or anything stupid like that. It was helpful that Ryouga spent the day at home recovering from his bout with Hayate and the aftermath with her and Spring. It gave Ukyou the chance to cool off...not that she was all that cool about things still. Even now, she was seething over the whole thing. Ryouga told her point blank not too long ago that there wasn't anyone else he was involved with, and then boom, here this girl comes out of the blue.

Well...he did say no one he knew of. Spring was just as much a shock to him as anyone.

Still, he should've been more careful whom he got involved with. And he had absolutely no reason to have gone into that women's bath the way he did. Okay, so it wasn't as if he went in there on purpose. By now, Ryouga's lousy sense of direction was legendary. She shouldn't be surprised that he managed to wander where he shouldn't have been. In fact, she shouldn't be surprised if he told her he somehow managed to walk to the moon.

Ukyou stopped...was she trying to make excuses for him? Yes, they were all very valid reasons for what happened and given just how crazy everything was where they were concerned, that was probably exactly what happened. She shook her head; the whole situation was driving her insane. That was when the million-dollar question came to her...

Just why did it infuriate her so?

It wasn't as if they were boyfriend/girlfriend or anything. He was just a friend, an employee and tenant, nothing more. She thought about what nearly happened in the nurse's office before Spring burst in and shook her head again, shivering. That was an aberration: she was just caught up in the moment and it got the better of her common sense, that's all. And surely, she wasn't disappointed that the moment was ruined; nor was she bitter or angry over Spring stealing the kiss that was meant for her.

...The witch.

With everything being as crazy as it had been, Ukyou had been neglecting her business. She had run dangerously low on much needed supplies and she desperately needed to restock. Ukyou eyed her surroundings suspiciously and fingered her battle spatula. She had been caught too many times without it and wasn't about to be caught off guard again, and she would be damned if she was going to let that whole kiss of death thing force her to cower and hide. The chef would not let the newest Amazon floozy in town have that much power over her. She adjusted the bandolier clasped across her chest and began walking towards mid-town.

Behind her, Spring emerged from the shadows of Furinkan's main building and smiled, eyeing her unsuspecting prey. Ukyou looked like she was prepared for battle. The fool; it didn't matter how prepared or how skilled she thought she was. When the time was right, she would never know what hit her. And once Spring had defeated Ukyou, Ryouga would be all hers! They would be married per Amazon law and he would be hers to do with as she pleased every night...and every morning...and maybe sometimes after lunch...she began to drool again thinking about it, earning her some disturbed looks from passers-by.

Spring composed her self the best she could and got back to the matter at hand. Her fantasies would come true soon enough once she defeated Ukyou. With a predatory grin on her face, she unsheathed her sword and began her charge...only there wasn't a target for her to charge towards. She looked around but couldn't see her prey anywhere close by. She cursed to herself for letting her daydream get the better of her, allowing Ukyou to escape. The ninja sprang into the nearest tree and from there, hopped rooftop to rooftop to try and find her lost target.

----+----

He may have been down, but he wasn't out. If Hibiki thought he had seen the last of him, he was sorely mistaken. Tsubasa Kurenai wasn't that easily dispatched. Disguised as a sign for a sushi restaurant, he sat in the middle of town watching the people of Nerima going about their daily business. He was at a loss as to what to do next. That transforming mailbox was one of the best disguises he had ever developed...one of the most expensive too. He wanted another crack at Ryouga, but there was no way in the world he could afford another one of those any time soon.

A loud, audible sigh came from the sign causing a patron to look at it with a raised eyebrow. Carefully, he got up and quickly walked away, hoping not to get involved in anything. Inside the sign, Tsubasa sulked, depressed and completely out of ideas. Ryouga was a lot stronger than he gave him credit for. Without another machine, there was no way he could stand up against his brutish power. But something had to be done, or else he would lose the woman of his dreams to the bandanna clad martial artist forever.

Speaking of the woman of his dreams, he poked his head out of the front of the sign as he caught sight of her. Ukyou was walking on the other side of the street in her boy's school uniform, decked out for battle and with an irritated look on her face. This was too good to be true. She and Hibiki must be fighting now. It must be pretty bad for her to be lugging all of her gear with her. This was just the opportunity he was hoping for! After listening to her complain for a while and a few soothing words in response, no doubt she would fall into his arms and proclaim her love! He would win without having to resort to fighting...the best kind of win there was.

Ukyou stopped at a restaurant supply warehouse that specialized in packaging beef and poultry. Instead of making a scene inside, Tsubasa decided it was best to wait where he was for her. As he sat, waiting for Ukyou to exit the warehouse, he noticed something in the periphery of his vision. Sitting on the roof of the building was another girl, with short blue hair and what looked like a ninja suit. Even with all of the martial artists in town, Tsubasa couldn't recall ever seeing a ninja before. He wondered why she was perched on top of the building.

All too soon, he got his answer. As soon as Ukyou exited the building, the ninja girl unsheathed a rather nasty looking sword and jumped. 'OH NO!' he screamed internally. 'UKYOU!' His mind raced. There was no way he could stop a trained ninja, especially an armed one. Even if he could, there was no way he would be able to reach them in time to save Ukyou. But there had to be something he could do. In a panic, he reached for the nearest thing to him and threw it at the attacking ninja girl.

Ukyou stepped out of the warehouse, feeling a little better. A fresh order of chicken and beef were on the way. That was one less thing for her to worry about. Now, she was off to the next restaurant supply warehouse to place an order of napkins and cooking oils. Putting the receipt of her purchased items in her pocket, she spun on her heel to start to her next destination, when her senses tingled, warning her of danger. She grabbed the handle of her mega spatula and readied herself for anything.

-CRASH!-

Well, almost anything. Turning back to the doorway, Ukyou found Spring lying in a mangled heap among a bunch of empty trashcans. While she was making her attempt to strike, something large and wet landed on one of her eyes, impeding her vision and totally throwing off her trajectory. Usually, this breed of warrior was conditioned to block out all manner of distractions and discomforts to complete whatever mission they were on successfully. But this was so vile a substance, even a ninja would be hard pressed to ignore it.

Removing the substance from her eye, Spring made a disgusted face, "Ugh, sushi. I hate sushi!"

"Well, isn't this a pretty picture?" Ukyou said with a smirk. "Seems fitting."

Spring threw away the offending piece of raw fish, grabbed her sword which was lying beside her, and stood to her feet. "Okay, maybe the landing stunk. But I'm not beaten yet! Prepare to di-"

-CLANG!-

The okonomiyaki chef re-sheathed her battle spatula as she watched the ninja girl fly off somewhere over the horizon. Even with the assassination attempt averted, Ukyou growled. When she got back home, she was definitely going to give Ryouga a piece of her mind. She stomped off to her next destination. All of the other pedestrians, seeing the irate look on the young martial artist's face, gave her a very wide berth.

Across the street at the sushi restaurant, Tsubasa wasn't feeling that much better with the situation. He had no idea who that other girl was, nor why she was after Ukyou. As much as he wanted to continue pursuing his love and getting that Hibiki guy out of the picture, this had to take precedence. He would have to be her guardian angel, watching from afar, stopping any subsequent attempts on Ukyou's life. Tsubasa smiled; if he played his cards right, this could be a way to win Ukyou over also. He began following Ukyou to her next stop; grinning to himself thinking of how she would show her gratitude once she found out he was keeping her safe.

One of the waiters working at the sushi restaurant watched Tsubasa as he left. He turned to his supervisor, "Sir...did you just see that?"

"Nope," the supervisor said, shaking his head. "I didn't just see our sign just get up and walk away. And neither did you, understand?"

----+----

After what turned out to be another long, eventful day, the sun began to set, turning the sky a vibrant orange. Moving the "closed" sign out of the way, Ukyou took out her house key, opened the front door and stepped inside her restaurant. She went over behind the grill, put her numerous receipts down on the counter and kicked her shoes off. She took out a drink from the refrigerator and sat down, letting out a long sigh...it was good to be home. Twisting off the top of the bottle, she took a sip of her drink. Her stomach let her know that it appreciated her giving it some attention, finally, but that it required more solid sustenance. She shook her head, realizing she hadn't had anything to eat since lunch earlier that day. She would have to cook something to eat before she could really relax.

Taking another swig of her drink, she grudgingly stood up and went back over to the refrigerator to rummage around for something suitable to have for dinner. Doing so, she came across something she hadn't noticed before; a plate covered with a plastic wrapper. On top of the plate was a note scribbled on a piece of scratch paper, "Ukyou, left this for you. –Ryouga." She raised an eyebrow and uncovered the plate. Steamed rice topped with stir fried vegetables and some grilled chicken.

"He still thinks he can cook, huh?" she said, thinking back to his attempt at making okonomiyaki while they were on Togenkyou Island. Well, he wasn't Akane, so it had to be eatable. Besides, it would be rude of her to just throw it away after he went through the trouble. After running it through the microwave for three and a half minutes to reheat it, she sat back down, putting the plate in front of her. After a deep sigh, gathering up her courage, she took a first apprehensive bite. As it rolled around her palate, her eyes lit up, "Wow! He may not do okonomiyaki well, but he _can_ cook!"

Thoroughly impressed with the food, she continued to eat. It almost made her sad when she came to the last fork full. She would definitely have to convince him to cook more. In fact, this could be the opportunity she was looking for to expand her menu. The thought of growing her business completely made her forget about the confrontation she intended to have with him about the ninja amazon situation. She stood up and went to the sink to wash off the plate. There, she noticed the door leading to the back yard was wide open.

Ukyou shook her head, "That idiot. He must've gotten lost trying to go to the bathroom or something. I just hope no one's broken in again." She put the cleaned plate away in her pantry and went over to the opened door. Looking through it, she found Ryouga in the back, performing a kata. It was strange. From what she saw of Ryouga's fighting style, it was all power-based requiring him to use his brute strength to bulldoze through any situation he found himself in. She never figured him as the type to do these sorts of exercises.

She stood in the doorway, watching as he went through the motions of the kata smoothly. She didn't want to admit, even to herself, that she was mesmerized or anything. Still, watching him working through the exercise so fluidly, with the added effect of he not wearing a shirt and his sweat soaked torso gleaming with the last few rays of sunlight was...captivating. What really caught her attention, though, were his eyes. While his overall expression was one of grim determination, she could see the intense pain he was in through his eyes. What was worse was the look that it was something he was used to.

He entered a particularly taxing routine of the kata and stopped in the middle of it, clutching his ribs. Ukyou shook her head and stepped out with him. "Ryouga."

Ryouga looked up, "Ukyou? When did you get back?"

"Not too long ago. What do you think you're doing? You know the Doctor said you need to take it easy to give your body a chance to recover."

"I couldn't stay cooped up in bed all day. It was driving me crazy. I just had to get up and do a little exercise. Besides, Hayate is still out there waiting for another shot at me. I can't afford to get rusty."

"All the good it'll do if you permanently injure yourself." She walked up to him, but he took a step back, eyeing her suspiciously.

"You're not going to hit me again, are you?"

She was genuinely hurt by the question. And here, she was trying to help him. Of course, now that he mentioned it, she did have that in mind for him not too long ago. It seemed he had a right to be so defensive. She spread her arms out to each side and reassured him, "I come in peace, sugar, I promise." Seeing that he was somewhat placated by her words, Ukyou finished closing the distance between them, put a hand on the middle of his back and nudged him back towards the house. "Now get yourself back inside before you hurt yourself anymore."

"Okay, okay. Sheesh."

It was a good thing she was slightly behind him. Ukyou didn't understand why, but she felt herself blushing. It felt as if there was some sort of energy channeling through her hand where she touched him and it was causing that reaction. She couldn't comprehend what was going on. She had held him many times before, a lot closer in fact. But none of those previous times had ever elicited this reaction before. She chanced a glance up towards the bandana clad warrior and notice he had a slight blush as well. Quickly, she cast her eyes back in front of her. She didn't know what was going on, but she could feel a palpable tension falling between them. This wasn't good; something had to be done to break the silence...

"Um...hey! I appreciate the dinner you left for me." Not something to start a long conversation with, but Ukyou did hope Ryouga would have a decent enough response to keep the uncomfortable silence from returning...at least until she got him to his room. Fortunately, they weren't far. They were at the base of the stairs leading to their living quarters. Just a little more...

"Thanks," Ryouga replied with a smile. Ukyou had to turn away from him quickly. Dammit! Why did he have to smile like that? "I was hoping you would like it," he continued. "I haven't had to cook for anyone else in a long time, and I wasn't sure if it was going to be any good or not."

"It was really good. Ever thought about becoming a chef?" Why was the staircase so long all of a sudden? Did someone add a few thousand more steps while she was gone?

"I hadn't really thought about it. I've never really stayed in one place for very long to think of careers and stuff."

Finally! They had reached the top floor! Now, to direct him to his room and it would be over! For now... "Think about it. I've been thinking about expanding my menu for some time to compete with the Nekohaten and the other places around here for some time and I could use a good man...to, um...to help me with that. We could even become partners..._business_ partners." Crap, where WAS his door already?

Ryouga considered what she said. "That sounds good. I'm open to the idea. I kinda like the thought of being paired with you. I think we'd make a great couple." Ukyou blushed. Did she just hear what she thought she heard? "...Of chefs. We'd make a great couple of chefs," he amended.

There's the door! There's the door! Okay, don't fling it open too quickly. Just stay cool. "Well, don't just jump in blind. This business isn't as easy as it may appear. It's going to be a lot of hard and most times, tedious work. Just think about it for a bit, okay?" She took the doorknob and opened the door as calmly as she could.

"Okay, I will," Ryouga said with a nod. "Well, goodnight."

"Goodnight." He walked through the doorway and Ukyou closed it behind him. Once he was out of sight, she let out a huge sigh of relief. Thinking of the conversation, she mentally kicked herself. She felt she was getting too close to him as it was. She couldn't afford to have him even closer than that, practically breathing down her neck while she was in the kitchen. Ukyou shivered, thinking of him standing behind her and literally breathing down her neck. Unfortunately, the image progressed with his mouth inching closer to her neck and his arms wrapping her up from behind.

She bonked herself on the head. It was getting worse now. It was still too soon after the whole mess with Ranma. With how much it pained her to see him with Akane, it was obvious to her that she wasn't over him yet. With all of the hurt she still carried, she desperately wanted a break from all of that love and relationship business. Besides, Ryouga deserved better than to be a rebound guy. Taking another deep breath, Ukyou willed her feet to move, going back downstairs to lock up.

On the other side of the door, Ryouga was wondering just what in the world was going on himself. He's always had trouble with girls, sometimes to the point of falling over into a quivering pile of jello when one gave him even the slightest bit of amorous attention. It was especially true with Akane. That maddening tendency prevented him from ever telling her what he felt for her, which resulted in him losing her. But for some reason, that was never true with Ukyou. Even after that somewhat awkward way he found out she was really a she, he never really had trouble functioning while he was around her.

She seemed to have this good-natured, confident quality to her that sort of rubbed off on him...even though it was rare that she would actually demonstrate the 'good natured' part where he was concerned. Even still, they evolved into great friends and even better partners in crime, scheming to split Ranma and Akane apart, coming closer together than either ever had apart. But now that Ranma and Akane were out of reach, something seemed different between them. When Ukyou put her hand on his back, he felt as if his chest was going to explode. That wasn't how one felt when they were touched by a 'friend'.

He was especially confused trying to figure what Ukyou must have been feeling. Most times, she wasn't very pleasant to be around, ranging in moods from irritable to downright violent. Other times, she was a very sweet person. Complementary, helpful...she was almost clingy at times. And then there was that almost-kiss back at the nurse's office. He shook his head. He just couldn't figure her out for the life of him. He did observe one thing: the way she behaved with him was pretty close to how Akane acted towards Ranma.

Was it possible? Was it possible that Ukyou was developing feelings for him? Was it possible that he was developing those same feelings for her in return? It was. It was also possible that he took too many headshots from his fight with Hayate and it was making him delusional. Besides, that whole mess with Ranma and Akane left him rather burned out on the whole love and relationships thing. If Ukyou felt anything, she must feel burned out also. But then, there's that thing with Spring now...

It was all too much. He flopped down on his bed and stared at the ceiling, illuminated by the last few rays of sunlight. As he drifted off to sleep, one last thought popped into his head...he hoped that he and Ukyou weren't turning into another Ranma and Akane. That was a rather revolting concept...

----+----+----+----+----

With an irritated look on her rather filthy face, Spring trudged herself to the upper level of Autumn's herbal remedy shop. What an unmitigated disaster that day had been. As if getting that piece of sushi wasn't bad enough...and just where in the world did it come from anyway? After being batted away by Ukyou, Spring fell right into the cargo hold of a fisherman's boat. There must have been thousands of fish in there...live fish to boot. She hated fish.

Upon entering the living area, Spring's odiferous presence made itself painfully known. The pungent smell made its way into the living room before she did causing Autumn and Mousse, who were sitting on the couch reading, to yell in disgust and pinch their noses closed. "Oh by gooddess!" went Autumn. "Whad in da world habbened do you?"

"I'd rather not talk about it," groaned Spring.

"I dake ib your first addempt at killing dat Ukyou girl dibm't go bell?"

"Obviously not." The ninja girl let out a despondent sigh. "I need a few nice, long baths." She trudged over to the couple, grabbed Mousse and yanked him to his feet. Managing a devious smirk, she said, "Let's go!"

"Huh, w-wait!" went Mousse.

"Hey! I dold you, you bust ask by bermission first!" yelled Autumn.

----+----+----+----+----

----+----+----+----+---- 


	3. Shelter

It was so good to finally be up and out of bed!

Ryouga was never one to stay down for very long and being bedridden for as long as he had was infuriating. He hopped from rooftop to rooftop, getting the feel of the wind on his face again. Just as he feared, though, his reaction times were off slightly. He could compensate to make sure he wouldn't fall or anything, but he would need some strenuous training in order to get back to where he was before his fight with Hayate.

He came to a stop on a roof overlooking an intersection. He looked in every direction a road ran, trying to find familiar buildings or landmarks. He didn't want to stray too far from Ucchan's Okonomiyaki for fear of getting lost, but it appeared he got lost anyway. His first thought was to drop down to street level and ask a policeman for help. Unfortunately, the police stopped giving him directions a long time ago, knowing it wouldn't have helped anyway. Ukyou did mention something before about giving him a GPS. He scoffed at the idea at first, but he sure wished he had one now.

Dropping down to street level anyway, Ryouga began walking. If he didn't find any familiar looking buildings or landmarks, hopefully he would run into someone he knew who could lead him to where he was going. He walked across a bridge and stopped, recognizing where he had gotten himself. If he recalled correctly, the bridge was the one where he and Hayate scuffled and he found out about Hayate's curse. That meant up ahead would be the teriyaki chicken place he and Ukyou never got to eat in Further ahead was the theater where Akane took them to that rather depressing movie.

Which, of course meant he was heading the wrong way.

With a sigh, he spun on his heel and started back where he came. At least he was able to recognize he wasn't going the right way before he hit the Pacific Ocean. Walking, again, across the bridge, Ryouga noticed something out of the corner of his eye that was grossly out of place. He looked over the rail of the bridge and saw three masked men on the bank of the gully trapping a woman in a corner.

Ryouga sneered in contempt at the men who would pick those weaker than they, like a pack of wolves. He cracked his knuckles and started towards their end of the bridge. He may have lost a step, but he should still be strong enough to teach those goons a thing or two about respecting women.

-

Dreamweaver Studios Presents

Ranma½

And the Beat Goes On

"Shelter"

-

Taking advantage of the uncharacteristically quiet morning, Ranma lounged on the roof of the house. His fight with Mousse was only hours away now and he wanted to be as fresh for it as possible. Part of him was looking forward to the duel because things have been rather boring lately. True, his father and Akane's father were still pushing them for an immediate wedding, and there were still the daily run-ins with Kuno; other than that, nothing's really happened...at least not to them.

Ranma knew on some level when he and Akane said 'I love you' in the front yard that day nothing would ever be the same again. But he thought there would be little changes and not the major cosmic shift that seems to have taken place. All of the things that used to happen to him were happening to Ryouga all of a sudden...the stupidly powerful rivals, the lovesick Amazons, even a giant robot! Ranma never had to fight a giant robot. Though he did have to fight Gosunkugi in that exo-suit before...

If Ranma had to pin down when that change happened, it had to have been after his last big encounter with the pig-headed jerk when he went into that Soul Cry thing. He certainly hoped he could handle everything that's sure to come at him now. Ranma would hate to think what would happen if Ryouga had another breakdown; if he was so depressed he was threatening all of Nerima and half of Tokyo, after a few months of that, he'd probably blow Japan right out of the Pacific Ocean. That's not even taking into consideration how Ukyou would react to everything. This certainly wasn't what he had in mind when he agreed to help get those two together.

But that wasn't all. He certainly wouldn't wish any of the garbage he went through on his worst enemy. Ryouga certainly wasn't that...not anymore anyway. And when in the world did that happen? Anyway, and as much as he hated to admit it, even to himself, he kind of missed being the center of attention. Whenever anyone or anything ventured into Nerima, be it demented, deranged, or dumb-as-bricks, it always seemed to find him and he would fix things himself. Now that he was somewhat on the outside looking in, he was concerned with how those things would turn out without him.

Of course, there's also the fact that if it weren't for those things he had to face since he arrived in Nerima, he wouldn't be as strong as he was. Constant training would only take him so far; he needed to have that in-combat experience as well. Ranma's eyes widened. He hadn't thought of that before. Even without all of the craziness centered him, Ryouga was always able to stay around Ranma's level. If Ryouga really was the center of attention now, there was no telling how much stronger he could become. He could even far surpass Ranma! We can't have that, now can we? Ranma grinned. He would just have to drop in every now and then just to see how things were going with his perpetually lost rival and Ukyou. And just in case anything was going on, he would be just too happy to lend them his services. He hoped Ryouga wouldn't mind _too much._

"I thought I might find you up here."

Ranma craned his neck, finding his fiancée standing above him. "Yo Akane! What's up?"

Akane sat down beside him. "Not much. I just didn't see you in the house or in the dojo. I kind of figured you would be training or something for your fight later."

"What for?" asked Ranma with a shrug. "Its just Mousse. I know he said he had some new stuff he learned for the fight, but I'm sure I can handle whatever he can throw at me." Akane shook her head. "Besides," he continued, "I had a long workout this morning, so I'm good."

"If you say so." The youngest of the Tendo sisters turned her eyes skyward, watching the stray clouds roll by. She let out a short, content sigh. "Except for what's going on with Ukyou and Ryouga, it sure has been quiet around here, hasn't it?" Ranma couldn't help but chuckle at the comment. Akane looked at him with a raised eyebrow, "Did I say something funny?"

"Nah. I was just thinkin' the same thing." He sat up and confided, "You know, I always thought I would like it when things finally calmed down. But after this little taste, I don't know if I'll be able to take it for very long. I'm actually lookin' forward to this fight with Mousse and I'm hopin' whatever he's learned will make it interesting. I just hope after this, it won't be too boring around here."

"It almost sounds like you miss the never ending chaos that used to surround us."

"Well, nothin' to that level, especially what we've been through lately. But, you know, once in a while, I think it would be good for something to happen. I'd get too restless otherwise."

"So you like it when things are 'interesting', is that it?"

Ranma nodded, "Yeah, I guess."

"That's a curse, you know."

"What is?"

"You know that saying? 'May you live in interesting times'? It's a curse. And I, for one, would be just fine if all of the interesting times were behind us. 'Boring' would be a very welcome change."

"Feh, I think I know one or two things about curses," said Ranma. "I don't think livin' in 'interesting times' is too much of a curse. I mean, if it's another three-headed war goddess or a demon who was the blood enemy of your mom, that's one thing. But, it don't need to go that far. If it's just a little something to make it more lively here, where's the 'curse' in that?"

"Greetings to you of the Tendo household! I, Tatewaki Kuno, bring you glad tidings!"

Akane glared at Ranma, "Does that answer your question?"

Down below, Soun and Nabiki Tendo greeted the kendoist. Nabiki especially was rather suspicious of her classmate, as he was never one to just visit their home. Usually when he stopped by, trouble always followed soon after, or worse; he would be the one who ended up causing the trouble. Soun nodded to the younger man lightly and started, "And good day to you too, son. What may I do for you?"

Kuno took a deep breath to collect his thoughts. "Please excuse me. It is difficult for one such as I to be forced to do something like this. However, circumstances dictate that I must take this drastic measure..."

Nabiki raised an eyebrow, "Hey, Kuno baby, just spit it out, would you? We don't have all day."

Shooting a glare at the middle Tendo daughter, the kendoist cleared his throat. "Yes, well, the truth of the matter is; I have come to you today to humbly ask for temporary residence in your abode."

"Wait, you want to stay? Here?" went Nabiki, slack jawed.

"That is correct."

"Er, well, I'm sorry son," said Soun. "Unfortunately, we don't have the space. Our guest room is already taken. We wouldn't have anywhere else to put-"

"I would, of course, compensate you for the use of your accommodations," Kuno added. "Would five thousand yen a week be enough?"

Cha-Ching! "As I was saying, we would be delighted to have you staying with us!" Soun took his bags and ushered them in.

Nabiki grabbed him by the arm, "This way. I'll show you to the guest room where you'll be staying."

Before they could make it into the house, Ranma and Akane dropped down from the roof, blocking their way in. "Now wait, just one second!" Ranma interjected. "Pop and I are staying in the guest room now! What about us?"

"Listen Ranma," Soun started, "I hold the friendship of you and your father in very high regard. But we're still in the hole financially from when we had to rebuild the dojo. We NEED the money and I'm not going to pass up the opportunity to bring a little extra in."

"So what, you're just gonna throw us out just like that?"

Soun scoffed at the idea, "Of course not. Saotome can sleep in the Dojo and you can share Akane's room."

"SAY WHAT?" gasped Ranma and Akane together, both faces turning beet red.

Nabiki went up to the two of them, and favored them with a sly smile. "Oh come on now...You may be able to play innocent with him, but don't even try that act with me. You two have been going at each other ever since you found out Akane was part demon. I know for a fact, Ranma, that almost every night, you sneak into Akane's room so you can...share some quality time."

The redness deepened. Ranma tried to mount a defense, "What in the world would make you think I'd do..."

The middle Tendo sister procured a videotape and dangled it in front of the engaged couple. With a slight blush herself, her grin widened, "Better than cable." Completely dumbfounded, Ranma and Akane ran back into the house and straight for her room to look for hidden cameras.

Soun walked up to his daughter, glaring at her. Since they were whispering amongst themselves, he couldn't hear everything they were saying. But once he saw the videotape, he got the gist of it. "Please tell me you're not still spying on them."

"Please, daddy. I'm not _that_ bad. I'm not really taping them." Not anymore, anyway. Of course, she conveniently left that part out.

----+----

After about an hour, Ranma and Akane sat down on the floor, leaning against her bed. Clothes, shoes, books and paper were strewn all over the room, as they tore it apart looking for Nabiki's surveillance equipment. As Akane sat thinking of a place she possibly could have missed, she looked at the mess and lamented at the thought of having to clean it back up again.

Beside her, Ranma gazed upon the mess as well. He too couldn't think of another place where Nabiki could have hidden the camera. There was a good chance that she could've had a hole drilled into the wall with a camera peeking through. It could've been in the ceiling for all he knew. Then again, knowing Nabiki, there was a third alternative... "Ya know, I bet she tricked us."

Akane's eyes widened; the thought hadn't occurred to her before. With all of the times they caught their folks spying on them, she automatically believed Nabiki's assertion to be true. She never thought it could just have been a ruse to end the argument. "Oooh, that Nabiki! I should make her come in here and clean up this mess!"

Sinking down onto the floor, Ranma covered his eyes with his hands, unable to believe the situation he was in now. "Man, I gotta fight with Mousse in a little while! I don't need this now!"

"What's the matter? Things gotten a little too 'interesting' for you?" his fiancée asked.

"This ain't interesting. It's nauseating. And he's gonna be stayin' in me and pop's room. Ugh! That's all I need! He's gonna be spreadin' his moron germs all over my stuff! Next thing you know, I'll be talkin' like a bad poet, referrin' to myself in the third person and wavin' a stupid stick all over the place too." Ranma shivered at the thought.

"Bleh," went Akane. "What a horrible thought. Those three are bad enough. The last thing the world needs is another Kuno."

The pigtailed martial artist stood up and put his hand on his chest, "I the great, mighty and incredibly good looking Ranma Saotome agree with your sentiment!" He sat back down laughing.

"Oh, I don't know," went Akane, laughing also. "Now that I hear it, you don't sound that different from the way you normally do."

"Geez, you're mean!" He stuck his tongue out at her and both started laughing again.

----+----+----+----+----

The three masked goons closed in on the woman they had cornered on the bank. They couldn't have chosen a better spot for their attack as their angle precluded anyone from spotting them unless they were walking along the bridge above and even then, they had to be at a certain position. And it was a heavily trafficked area as well, so all of the passing automobiles above would mask any screams.

For her part, the woman didn't appear frightened by her predicament, but there was no question she was concerned. Her back was too the support column of the bridge. The only way out was through her attackers.

"Now, hand over your valuables, lady, and you won't get hurt," said one of the hoodlums.

"Of course, that's not to say we won't have a bit of fun with you first," said a second. All of them laughed perversely at the statement.

"Feh, to think that what was once such a lovely town has been taken over by ruffians such as yourself," the woman said. "It's such a shame."

"What will be a shame is if you don't cooperate and something bad happened to you as a result," the first one threatened.

"Not one of you is going to lay a finger on her!" Everyone turned their gazes upward. With his hands in his pockets and his own gaze cast coolly on the group of thugs, Ryouga made his presence known. "You were right about one thing, though: something bad IS going to happen, unless you let her go right now."

"This doesn't concern you kid!" the third said. "You'd better get out of here while you still can." While one stood back, keeping an eye on the meddling kid, the other three stalked up to the woman, poised to begin their assault.

With a great leap, Ryouga jumped from the top of the bank and landed between the woman and her assailants. With a malicious smile, he warned them again. "This is your last chance."

"This guy doesn't know who he's dealing with," said the first thug. "Time to teach him a lesson!" He charged at Ryouga, throwing a rather competent series of punches at him. No doubt he had some sort of training behind him. It was too bad the guy chose this as his path. With ease, Ryouga dodged all of his punches. It wasn't often Ryouga got to show up an opponent in this way, so he took his opportunity to yawn at the thug's rather pitiful attempts. He moved in slow motion compared to the fanged martial artist's speedier opponents, like Ranma and Hayate.

His taunt worked. The guy was furious that he was being made the fool. Building up all the steam he could, he launched a mighty swing at Ryouga, intending it to be a knockout blow. Calmly, Ryouga stepped out of the way, but kept his foot outstretched. Unable to redirect his momentum, the thug tripped over Ryouga's foot and fell into the gully, getting washed away down stream.

"My turn!" said the second guy. This one looked to be the strong man of the bunch, as he was a few inches taller than Ryouga and his arms were quite thick. Cracking his knuckles, he stalked up to Ryouga. The bandanna clad martial artist simply snorted and motioned for the buffoon to attack whenever he was ready. With a loud roar, the taller man reared his fist back and shot his arm forward, striking Ryouga hard in the stomach.

Once again showing up his opponent, Ryouga looked down at the fist embedded in his abdomen, then looked up at the man and laughed. Removing a hand from his pocket for the first time in the encounter, he grabbed the man by the wrist and removed his hand from his person. He started to apply mild pressure to the man's wrist. What was mild to Ryouga was crushing to the man. He fell down to one knee, wailing in pain at the vice grip that was locked around his wrist.

Ryouga shook his head. He knew he wouldn't get much of a workout from those guys, but he couldn't believe how pathetic they were. They gave decent thugs out there a bad name. With a yank, he tossed the 'strong man' of the group into the gully with his friend. He turned his attention to the last man of the group, waiting for him to make his move. He couldn't see the man's face due to the mask, but the trembling knees were enough for Ryouga to determine the last man standing was scared out of his mind. He walked up to the last of the thugs and jerked forward, "Boo!"

"AAAAAH!" the last thug screamed, running away.

"I warned them," Ryouga said with a sigh. With that out of the way, he turned his attention back to the woman. To his determination, she was a middle-aged woman who had taken very good care of herself, for she was still quite lovely. She had long brown hair that she kept up in a bun, with two thick strands coming down either side of her face. She wore a blue kimono with pink flowery designs and a matching pink tie around her waist. The woman carried herself with an elegance he had never seen before. "Are you alright ma'am?" he asked.

She walked up to him and hugged him tightly. He couldn't help but blush. She was probably somebody's mother, but that sure wasn't a motherly hug she was giving him. Releasing the hug, the woman took a step back and bowed to him, slightly, "I am fine, thank you very much. I'm sure I could have taken those ruffians out myself, but I am very appreciative to you for your assistance. It's gratifying to know that there are still some nice young men here."

Ryouga couldn't help but feel good about himself. He felt like a child getting praise from his own mother. He rubbed the back of his head and gave her a fangy grin, "It was no trouble at all, ma'am."

"I'll say. I was very impressed with how easily you took those guys out." She put a hand on Ryouga's arm and slowly trailed it down. Okay, this had gone from motherly to creepy again. Suddenly, Ryouga was very uncomfortable around her. "And yet, you're so polite. The epitome of manliness! If only I were a few years younger..."

Very, very uncomfortable... "Er, yes...well, um, if you're alright, ma'am I have to, uh, get back to work now. I'm sure my boss is going to be quite upset if I-"

"Would you mind walking me to my house, young man?" she asked, putting her arm around his waist. "I have a daughter around your age and I'm sure she'd love to meet a handsome, gallant man such as yourself."

Oh brother. Like he needed any more girl trouble right now. "I'm sorry, but I really need to get back to…" As he spoke, the woman slid her hand from his side to the small of his back, where he felt a sharp prick. It was very sudden, but the discomfort he felt went away just as quickly. However, he found his legs no longer worked. With nothing to support him, he fell over in a heap.

He pushed himself up by his hands and looked at his incapacitated legs. What in the world was happening to him? Looking at his back where he felt the pricking sensation, he found what looked like an...acupuncture needle? The woman walked over him and smiled. "There's absolutely no way I would let such a rare gem of a man get away. Won't my daughter be surprised when I make my homecoming complete with her future husband! Ohohohohohohoho!"

This was just getting worse and worse. What in the world did he do that was so horrible he deserved to be punished like this? And why in the world did that laugh seem so familiar?

----+----+----+----+----

----+----+----+----+----


	4. The Dragon and the Phoenix

Principal Kuno paced back and forth trying to find a solution to his current situation. The time was almost upon them and he still hadn't told Kodachi yet. Tachi was stricken when he heard the news, so much so that he packed up and left the house. Not a bad move on his part, but he was merely delaying the inevitable. He wouldn't be able to hide forever. Still, if that was how his son reacted, there was no telling what his daughter would do.

Maybe he was over thinking things? Maybe it wouldn't be so bad? Maybe he couldn't take that chance? Ugh, it was infuriating! He stopped and took a deep breath, trying to collect his thoughts. He had to tell her, there was no doubt about that. It would be much better for him to tell Kodachi before it was time. That way Kodachi could prepare herself as well. He nodded his head, coming to his decision. No more procrastinating, he was going to find Kodachi and tell her the news right this moment, before time was up.

"Father dear?"

Principal Kuno spun around, surprised by the presence of his daughter, "AAAH! Noting's going on!"

Kodachi raised an eyebrow, "Hmm?"

"Oh, ah, w-what is it, my precious coconut?"

"My curiosity has been peaked. I haven't been able to find my dear brother anywhere. I had come to you to see if you had any information of his whereabouts." She stalked closer to her father and he gulped nervously. "But now I'm curious as to what exactly this "nothing" is that's going on. Could it shed some light on where my brother has disappeared?"

The older man took another deep breath. It was now or never. "Okay, you deserve to know da truth. Dere is something going on. I got this letter in the mail a few days ago and-" Before he could finish, the doorbell rang.

"Hold that thought, father. That's probably him now. Whatever petty dispute the two of you have going on this time can only be resolved with the two of you conversing face to face." She ran off to answer the door.

"Dachi! Wait!" He went after her as fast as he could. Hopefully, it would be her brother at the door.

Kodachi grabbed the knob of the front door and pulled it open, expecting to find her brother. Instead, she found a familiar looking woman. She the one dressed in the flowery kimono and the brown hair. The gymnast couldn't understand why, but she felt a very strong connection with the woman, something that pricked her senses at the back of her mind, but she couldn't quite place it. "Yes, may I help you?" she asked cordially.

The woman looked at Kodachi and smiled. Even in the arms of her beloved husband-to-be, the gymnast never felt so warm. "Hi honey. I'm home!"

That voice! No matter how many years had gone by, she could never forget that voice. No wonder her father and brother were acting strangely. They must have known about this in advanced...and neither told her. She didn't know what to feel, about her father or brother; nor did she know how to feel about the woman staring her back in the face. For the first time in her life, Kodachi Kuno was completely speechless.

Well, not completely. There was one word that was at the tip of her tongue. One all-important word that, when spoken, would surely encompass all of the jumbled emotions she was experiencing at the moment. She swallowed the lump that formed in her throat and willed herself to say it. "M...mother?"

-

Dreamweaver Studios Presents

Ranma½

And the Beat Goes On

"The Dragon and the Phoenix"

-

The sun had made the majority of its journey across the sky that day. Soon the night would fall upon the land and everyone would retire for the evening, retreating to their various homes to recuperate from the daily grind. Well, that's what all the 'normal' people did. There was some of the not-so-normal class who still had business to attend to.

Pacing back and forth in the center of the park, Ranma waited for Mousse to show up for their fight. He had been there going on a half an hour now and he was growing rather antsy. He wasn't the impatient sort when it came to waiting for opponents to show up; after all, he was used to waiting days for Ryouga to show whenever he laid down a challenge. But the sudden arrival of Kuno at the Tendo household had frayed his nerves and wore his patience thin.

"Man, where in the world is he?" wondered the pigtailed martial artist, looking back towards the entrance of the park. Mousse was never one to lay down a challenge and just not show up. Who knows, maybe that Spring girl showing up threw him off. From his first impression of the girl, Spring seemed to be more than a handful. No doubt, it was probably taking everything they had for Autumn and Mousse to keep her out of any more trouble. And as far as 'grabbiness' went, she even out-Shampooed Shampoo. He was sure glad Ryouga met Spring before he did.

In any event, if something did come up, the least Mousse could've done was send a note or something letting him know the fight was cancelled. This was wasted time he could've been using to kick Kuno out of his room or something.

"CRASHING ALBATROSS KICK!"

Hearing the battle cry, Ranma looked up and saw Mousse shooting towards him like a rocket. He sprang out of the way, allowing the be-speckled martial artist to crash into the ground. When the dust cleared, Ranma found his opponent kneeling in a sizable crater, looking back at him smiling. "Greetings, Saotome."

"Well, it's about time you showed up," said Ranma. "I was beginning to think you got lost or somethin'."

"_I'm_ not the one who takes a week to find his way to his back yard. I just wanted to make a smashing entrance, that's all."

"I'd say you managed to pull that off okay. So that's the move you were boastin' about before? It ain't bad, but it ain't all that impressive either."

"Give me more credit than that. That's only one of the new moves I've learned." Mousse took out a pair of daggers, "You'll get to find out what else I have up my sleeves in due time!"

It was Ranma's turn to smile, "Well don't just sit there talkin' about it! Let's go!"

"If you insist!" Mousse threw the daggers he had procured at Ranma, to which, Ranma dodged by jumping into the air. Predicting his opponent's move, Mousse had his chains on the way and snagged the shorter man in mid air. Taking a page out of a vile, yet greatly entertaining videogame, he grabbed his end of the chains and yanked them hard, screaming "GET OVER HERE!" Completely entangled by the chains, Ranma could do nothing as he came within range of Mousse and the not-as-myopic martial artist kicked him square in the chest.

Ranma came to rest a good fifteen feet away from Mousse. He laid on the ground, panting heavily already as catching a breath became much more painful. Unfortunately, he didn't have the time to catch that breath, as he saw Mousse rocketing to him again from the air. Untangling himself from the loosened chains that were still around him, he rolled out of the way so that Mousse would only impact with the ground again. Taking advantage of the smoke screen, Ranma sprang back in and countered with a punch that managed to land on the taller man's chin, knocking him up and out of the second crater.

As he watched the Amazon male get back to his feet, Ranma rubbed his bruised chest. "Man, it sure has been a while since he and I had a real fight...he must've been trainin' like crazy during that time. He's a lot stronger now. Heh, I was hoping he'd make this interesting. Looks like I got my wish!"

Not giving Mousse a chance to recover or take anymore weapons out of his sleeves, Ranma charged throwing a barrage of lightening fast punches and kicks. For his part, Mousse was too off balanced to try and counter the pigtailed martial artist's assault, but he did have the wherewithal to dodge or counter most of the strikes. Ranma smiled, Mousse always was a quick one, better able to give him a run for his money speed wise than Ryouga. But not even he could match Ranma when he went full speed. With a quick burst, Ranma broke through his defenses. Since Mousse wasn't as durable as Ryouga, the attack was much more devastating, launching him out of the park and crashing into someone's house.

Finding himself suddenly submerged in water, Mousse broke through the surface and caught a deep breath. Fortunately, it looked as though he was thrown into someone's bath, so the water was hot. It seemed the fight was already going against him. He hated to resort to the move so soon, but if he were to have any chance in winning, he would have to use it sooner rather than alter.

"AAAAAAAAAAH!" Uh oh! Mousse turned around and found a female clad in a towel. Looked like he interrupted someone's bath time. The woman took a good look at him and raised an eyebrow. "Say, you're pretty cute. You know, you didn't have to crash through my wall to get my attention."

Mousse blinked. "Er, yeah. Sorry about that." He stood up to leave.

"Aww, leaving so soon? Why not join me?" She winked at him.

He blushed, "Er, I can't. I'm spoken for already. Excuse me." He climbed back out of the wall, wondering when in the world the female population of Nerima became so...friendly. Well, no time to think about that now, he had to get back to the matter at hand. Unfortunately for him, the matter at hand was continuing to press his attack. Mousse nearly didn't spot Ranma in time to dodge another volley of punches. No doubt, he was going to try the same tactic again. This time, Mousse had something for him.

Ranma was beginning to get disappointed. After all that talk, it seemed Mousse was going to let him down. He had gotten his hopes up after that first shot, but it seemed as though this was going to be as easy as every other fight he had with him. The pigtailed martial artist was surprised the Amazon managed to get up from his last attack, but he figured one more attack just like that would put him down for good. He put another quick burst of speed behind his punches and broke through Mousse's defenses again, landing a good punch to his mid section. But as soon as the strike landed, he regretted it.

"AAH!" Ranma yanked his fist back and cradled it. "What in the world? That burned!" He stared at Mousse in awe as his ki slowly increased in intensity. He had to take a step back as the temperature around the taller man increased exponentially as well. So this must be the move he was talking about. Mousse made his aura so white hot, it was beyond even his high tolerances. To hit him even with the chestnut fist would only cause Ranma pain. While the chestnut fist was fast enough to go through a fire without you burning yourself, this would be like trying to hit a solid wall of fire itself. No matter how fast you go, you'll get burned regardless. Clever.

Mousse smiled at him. "What's the matter, Saotome? Can't take the heat? If you think it's hot now, just wait until you see the move I have in store for you!"

Ranma's jaw dropped. "You mean that wasn't the move?"

"This? This is just the precursor, the Heart of Fire…much like your Soul of Ice. But I'll be all too happy to show you the real move!" Mousse clasped his hands in front of him and began doing what appeared to be breathing exercises. After a particularly deep breath, he opened his arms and exhaled, shooting a ball of fire out of his mouth. Ranma, being caught by surprise by the attack, was struck dead center in the chest and knocked back into the brick fence surrounding the park. "So, how do you like my Phoenix Inferno?" asked Mousse.

Ranma patted himself down, making sure none of his clothes were burning. "Ugh, it's a bit too spicy for me!" That was just great. First Kuno, now Mousse.

"And just think," Mousse continued, "That's just a low level move! The Phoenix Scroll contains a lot more powerful attacks just waiting for me to master! Including some that rival your Dragon's Blast of Heaven! It's too bad you don't have the Dragon Scroll to learn more interesting things you can do with your Soul of Ice, hmm? Puts you at a great disadvantage!"

Talk about disadvantages. He can't get close to Mousse because of that fire thing. He'd get burned the moment he got near him. And, of course, he couldn't stay far...Mousse has always been able to use his hidden weapons to use the distance to his advantage. Of course, Ranma wasn't completely helpless when it came to ranged fighting. But using his Tiger Shot or the Chestnut variation would wear him out very quickly. There had to be another way, but what?

"HEADS UP, SAOTOME!" Ranma looked up just in time to see Mousse rocketing towards him from above. But with the super heated aura surrounding him, he looked like a real rocket this time. Ranma leapt out of the way, allowing Mousse to completely obliterate that section of the wall. Before the pigtailed martial artist could land, Mousse turned around and fired another Phoenix Inferno, striking Ranma in the chest again, causing him to crash through the wall of a particular person's home.

"AAAAAAAAAAH! …Say, you're pretty cute."

"Not now, lady!" Ranma climbed back out of the hole of the woman's wall and shook himself off, thankful to have fallen in a tub of warm water. "Okay, this was getting ridiculous!" he said to himself. "There's got to be some way I can land a decent hit on the guy. But...wait! He keeps talkin' about the Soul of Ice like it's...I dunno, the opposite of what he's usin'. If that's the case, then maybe beatin' him won't be as hard as I thought?" Taking a deep breath himself, Ranma calmed his emotions down. As he did so, his ki began to drop in temperature. "Here goes nothin'!"

Mousse was preparing for his next move, when he saw Ranma charging for him again. "What's he doing? I know it takes him a few lumps to learn a lesson, but this is crazy! Well, if he wants to get burned that badly again, he's welcome to it." The be-speckled martial artist braced himself to absorb his opponent's next attack.

As he got close, Ranma could feel the heat coming from his adversary, but it wasn't as intense as before. Just as he was hoping, his own cooled aura was shielding him from Mousse's fire. Now it was time for some payback! Ranma reared his fist back and let his attack fly.

-Ka-boom!-

The Amazon male didn't remember how he ended up about ten feet off the ground stuck in that tree. He did, however, remember that crazy punch from Ranma and how it felt like he was caught in the middle of a small explosion. He tried to shake his head clear, but the stars were still dancing before his eyes. "Wha...what just happened?"

Ranma was similarly stunned by the punch he delivered. Dropping to one knee, he looked at his fist. Then it dawned on him, "Oooh...I bet I know. It's the same principal as the Dragon's Blast. When I hit you, my super cooled aura violently came into contact with your super heated one and it caused an explosion, just like cold air crashing with hot air makes a storm, or my tornado!"

"It makes sense," said Mousse. "No wonder that punch did so much damage. There's just one flaw."

"What's that?" asked Ranma. He looked up just in time to see Mousse standing in his face, with his own fist reared back.

-Ka-boom!-

"It works both ways!" Mousse yelled up at Ranma, who was lying dazed on the roof of that same woman's building.

Ranma tried to shake his head clear from the last attack. Well it was official; Mousse had definitely delivered on the 'interesting'. Now he needed to find a way to win this. Unfortunately, this was the situation with Ryouga all over again. If he tried to use the Dragon Blast on Mousse with the amount of heat he was giving off, they'd probably take the whole town with them. There had to be a way to use the temperature difference to his advantage without causing too much collateral damage. He didn't want any bystanders to get hurt.

"Hey Ranma!" Mousse called from below. Ranma didn't move, not wanting to reveal his exact location so his adversary could launch another attack. "I must confess that I haven't been totally honest here. I've been saying that I only learned those new attacks from the scroll. But I just couldn't help myself. I looked at some of the more advanced techniques and learned one of them as well."

Oh goodie, more good news. If it's anything like that Phoenix Inferno thing, it was sure to be bad news. He couldn't wait to find out what it was. He would have to make a move and the sooner the better. Ranma rolled over to his belly and began crawling to the other side of the roof. Hopefully, with the element of surprise on his side, he would be able to put an end to the fight quickly. Mousse would just have to save that third move of his for another time.

-WHOOSH!-

Ranma blinked. 'Whoosh'? He looked behind him and saw a fading trail of fire rising into the air. He followed the trail upwards and found his opponent flying in a fiery circle above him. Ranma stood up, but his jaw stayed down. "WHAT THE...YOU CAN FLY? YOU'RE NOT EVEN A DUCK AND YOU'RE FLYING?"

"That's right!" said Mousse with a smile. His arms were outstretched with two pairs of swords extending out of his sleeves on either side. The fire was emanating from the swords, propelling him through the air. "This is my Wings of Ember move. Impressed?" Ranma was too stunned to respond. Using Ranma's dumfounded state to his advantage, Mousse dove from his altitude and rammed into his pigtailed opponent shoulder first, knocking him from the roof back down to street level.

Ranma groaned as he pushed himself up on his elbows. This was not good. A challenge was one thing, but the way things were going, he would lose for sure. As much as he didn't want to, he'd have to kick things up a few notches. He stood back up and leapt out of the way just in time to avoid the barrage of fireballs rained down on him. Looking into the air, Ranma saw Mousse fly away from him a short distance and make a U turn...no doubt to make another bombing run. He wasn't about to get that chance.

"KATCHU TENSHIN ARMAGURIKEN!" With his ki focused on his hands, he unleashed the chestnut fist variant. Mousse was somewhat taken aback by the move, forgetting for a moment that the pigtailed martial artist could do that now. Coming back to his senses, he made loops in the air avoiding all of the little ki blasts that were fired at him. With such small bursts, he wasn't sure how much it would hurt if one hit him, nor did he want to find out. He dove after Ranma, trying to ram him with his shoulder again, but Ranma managed to jump out of the way just in time to avoid the strike.

Mousse soared into the air, making another U turn to make another pass. For his part, Ranma nearly passed out from the exertion of the move in combination with the intense heat his opponent was giving off. He knew he only had enough energy for one last shot; after that, he'd be too spent to even defend himself. But the chestnut fist already failed once. Mousse is too agile while flying. It was then he had a very interesting idea. Taking a deep breath, he focused himself, lowered the temperature of his ki again, then let his attack fly one more time, "KATCHU TENSHIN ARMAGURIKEN!"

'What in the world is he doing?' Mousse wondered to himself. 'He already knows that that technique doesn't work and from the look of him, his first attempt greatly exhausted him!' He shook his head, 'Well, if he wants to lose that badly, I won't disappoint him!' He looped into the air, avoiding all of the small energy projectiles again. Seeing once again that his attack failed, Ranma's arms dropped to his sides lifelessly. 'He's practically out on his feet. I doubt he'll be able to dodge me this time. It's time to put an end to this fight!'

The analysis of the be-speckled martial artist was correct; Ranma was completely worn out from his last failed assault. However, not so much as Mousse suspected. Upon seeing Mousse rocket towards him ready to land the final blow, Ranma smiled, seeing his opponent took the bait. Once in the proper range, the pigtailed warrior allowed himself to fall backwards. When the hidden weapons master passed over him, Ranma threw his fist upwards, hitting Mousse square in the chest. With Ranma's cold aura violently clashing with Mousse's super heated aura coupled with Mousse's high velocity, the resulting explosion was literally earth shattering.

----+----

After a few hours, Mousse opened his eyes. He looked up and found Ranma sitting next to him under a tree. Ranma was in extremely bad shape; he could only imagine what his own condition was. "Unn, what...what's going on? Everything's so dark!" He was dismayed at the thought that his eyes may have stopped working again.

"Well yeah," went Ranma. "It IS nighttime after all."

"Oh." Mousse sat up and looked at the carnage left from their battle. "We're back in the park?"

"Yeah. When I hit you that last time, our auras caused a huge explosion. It hit me hard, but it threw you pretty far. From what I saw, you crashed through the fence and went a couple of hundred more meters through a few trees before you came to rest here. I just woke up myself not too long ago and found you here."

"I see." Mousse allowed himself to fall back to the ground and looked up at the stars. "So, I lost again, huh? Damn."

"Yeah. It was close though. You had me worried there for a bit."

"Pretty cold comfort if you ask me." Mousse stood to his feet and dusted himself off and shrugged. "Oh well, I should've known better. I mean you're one of the best fighters in our age class here. I should've known I couldn't have beaten you with those basic moves."

Ranma's jaw dropped, "Basic?"

"I guess it's back to training for me...later. After this, I think I could sleep for a month. But just you wait; it'll be a different story once I learn the more advanced moves. Have a good night, Saotome. I'll be seeing you later. Count on it!" With one last wave, and with his spirits lifted, Mousse happily hobbled back home.

Ranma watched Mousse as he departed, his jaw still hanging open. "Basic?"

----+----+----+----+----

----+----+----+----+----


	5. The Mother of All Encounters

Ugh...another school day.

After that huge fight he had with Mousse, Ranma was all too willing to sleep in. Unfortunately, his fiancée wasn't willing to accommodate. She tried to wake him up using several...persuasive methods. But when Ranma rolled over and went back to sleep, Akane used a more tried and true method; she hoisted him up and threw him out the window into the koi pond.

Thoroughly soaked, the now redheaded girl trudged her way to the bathroom to take a quick bath before breakfast. With a yawn, she stretched, flinching slightly at the soreness of various body parts. Ranma walked through the bathroom door, closing it behind her, disrobed and sat down in front of the faucet. She turned it on filling up the bucket at her feet with cold water. Turning off the cold tap, she turn on the hot water tap and put the hose in the tub so it can fill with hot water while she began to scrub herself.

It was painful for her to look at herself with all of the bruises that covered her. They'd heal in time, there was no doubt about that. She just hoped she wouldn't get into any major scuffles until then. Gingerly, Ranma finished scrubbing the last unattended area and rinsed herself by overturning the bucket of cold water over her head.

Finally, it was the part she liked the best; a nice, relaxing soak in the tub. It was too bad she couldn't stay too long. If she indulged herself too much, no doubt her father would take it upon himself to eat her breakfast for her. Shaking her head, Ranma stood up. As she turned to the tub, the door opened. Ranma thought Akane was about to walk in, however...

"Oh! The gods have smiled upon me this morn! How I have longed to gaze upon your beauteous vestige my beloved pigtailed girl!"

"KUNO! What the heck do you think you're doing, barging in here like this?" demanded Ranma.

In a flash, the kendoist was behind her. He wrapped his arms around her in a crushing embrace, "Please pardon my rudeness, my darling! I had no idea anyone was making use of the facilities. But let us take advantage of this fortuitous happenstance! Let us bathe together!"

-PUNT!-

Forgetting about her soreness, Ranma looked through the Kuno shaped hole that adorned the roof of the bathroom with a mixture of satisfaction and disgust. "That oughta teach ya! Ugh, I feel like I need to wash myself off again..."

-

Dreamweaver Studios Presents

Ranma½

And the Beat Goes On

"The Mother of All Encounters"

-

The skies above Nerima were ominous. Dark clouds were rolling in promising rain; a good day for any Jusenkyo cursed individual to stay indoors. Unfortunately, that was a luxury Ranma wasn't afforded. With his fiancée at his side, he trudged his way toward Furinkan High School to begin another week of scholastic drudgery.

As he walked, he couldn't help but think back to his fight with Mousse. Ranma didn't know what the Amazon male had been doing since the last time he saw him in action. Those moves were absolutely awesome. If he had used those moves on Taro down in that cave, all three of them probably could've faced Arame at the same time. The fight with Arame probably would've been easier too. And Mousse kept saying that those were low level moves. Maybe he was exaggerating, but what if it was true?

He also kept going on about some scrolls; a Phoenix Scroll and a Dragon Scroll. From the way he was going on, Mousse was getting his moves from the Phoenix Scroll. For a moment, Ranma thought about getting his hands on it somehow so he could learn some of those techniques as well. But according to Mousse, Ranma already knew some moves from the Dragon's Scroll. If he already had the basics of the Dragon moves down, then he probably would have more luck learning the moves from there. The question was, how could he get his hands on that Dragon Scroll? The next question then, would have to be where in the world was this Dragon Scroll anyway? Maybe Cologne would know...

"Hey Ranma,"

"Hmm?" he answered with a yawn. "What's up, Akane?"

"What was that commotion about before we left?"

"You mean when you threw me in the koi pond?"

"No, the other commotion."

"Oh...feh. That was Kuno walkin' in on me while I was takin' a bath."

"I see. I still can't believe dad let him stay with us...just because he offered a crummy few thousand yen a week. I mean, yeah, we've been eating a little better than we have been lately, but still it isn't worth the trade off."

Ranma shuddered, "You're tellin' me!"

"Kuno's been by before, looking for both of us, but he's never asked to stay before." Akane scratched her chin, "I wonder why he suddenly decided to now?"

"He and his sister are probably fighting again. In that case, I guess I couldn't blame him. Kodachi's scary while she's in a good mood." He shuddered again. It was then that he noticed his childhood friend and one-time fiancée coming up the block perpendicular to them. Ranma called out to her, "Hey! Ucchan!" However, she paid them no notice. She continued walking, her eyes downcast. As if by autopilot, she crossed the street and made the proper turn to get to the school. Concerned, Ranma and Akane picked up their pace until they were on either side of her and Ranma put a hand on her shoulder, "Yo, Ucchan?"

Ukyou snapped back to reality and looked up, "R-Ranma?"

"Hey, Ukyou. Is something the matter," asked Akane.

Ukyou looked to her other side and shook her head vigorously, "No, of course not! What would give you the idea that anything was wrong with me and Ryouga?"

The engaged couple blinked and glanced at each other. "Ah, trouble in paradise, I see," teased Ranma.

"Knock it off," Akane chided. "Come on, Ukyou, what's the problem?"

With a sigh, Ukyou started, "Ryouga's disappeared. I haven't seen him since he recovered from his injuries and went off to 'exercise'. All of his things are still at my place, but I haven't seen hide nor hair of him in two days."

"What do you think happened to him?" the youngest Tendo daughter asked.

"I'll bet you anything he's with that Amazon tramp, Spring. You know she's already attacked me once? I bet they met each other while she was hunting me again and they ran off with each other."

"Do you really think he would do something like that?" Akane asked incredulously.

"Give me a break!" the chef barked. "I've spent three years in an all boys school, remember? I know how they think. A girl like Spring, bouncing and jiggling all over the place in skimpy outfits, throwing herself at him...there's no way any guy could resist. They're probably together right now doing who knows what with each other. Makes me sick..."

"Well, he always has had a weakness with girls," said Akane, thinking out loud. "There was even that time where he ensnared Ranma with that koi rod..."

"You gotta be kiddin' me!" interjected Ranma. "What's with you girls always assumin' the worst about a guy? This is _Ryouga_ we're talking about here, remember? You know, the guy that needed four days to find his back yard? He went out to exercise and he couldn't find his way back. It's as simple as that. The moron's probably in China right now."

Ukyou pumped her fist, "Of course! They ran off to China! Why didn't I think of that before?" Ranma facefaulted. With everything he had to go through with Akane, he should have known better than to try to reason with a girl when she had irrational thoughts running through her head.

"RANMA SAOTOME!" Not that irrationality was solely a trait of females...Once again, the school's self appointed champion, the Blue Thunder Tatewaki Kuno had decided to attack before class start, hoping beyond hope to finally beat him. Ranma thought he would've had enough beatings after that morning, but the pigtailed martial artist was always willing to hand out more anytime he was- "OUT OF THE WAY, MAN!" –BWAP!–

Akane and Ukyou watched as Kuno knocked Ranma into space and kept running as if his life depended on it. Ukyou didn't know if something was playing tricks with her, but she could've sworn she saw a glint of metal zip by right in front of her face. Suddenly, as if for no reason at all, Kuno stopped in mid stride and he fell forward, limp. "Damnation!" exclaimed Kuno.

Akane blinked, "Okay, that was different..."

Ukyou inspected the fallen kendoist and noticed something amiss, "Is that a...needle sticking out of his neck?"

"Quickly, remove the needle!" Kuno said in a panic. "I must flee!"

"It would help if you said 'please' sugar," the okonomiyaki chef responded.

"What in the world is going on, Kuno?" asked Akane. "This isn't like you. I've never seen you so scared before."

"You will have to excuse him. He always seems to get that way whenever I summon him."

Looking back towards the school, the two girls noticed a middle aged woman dressed in an elegant kimono favoring them with a very sweet smile. Next to her, their nemesis, Kodachi Kuno stood, looking very subdued. A puzzled look ran over Akane and Ukyou's faces, wondering who this woman was that evoked such out of character reactions from the Kuno siblings.

Noticing the looks, the woman anticipated the question, "I'm sorry, girls. I should have introduced myself. My name is Haruna. Haruna Kuno."

----+----

"So you're their mother?" Akane asked. The small group sat under the tree in that spot Ranma and Akane adopted as their own. They had to lug Kuno from the spot where he fell all the way to the school grounds, as his limbs were rendered useless by an acupuncture needle strategically place in the base of the neck. Once they got to the spot, the woman who identified herself as Haruna Kuno removed the needle on the condition that the kendoist wouldn't try to run again. It was...and he did. Before he got too far away, Haruna incapacitated him again with a flick of the wrist and another needle in the base of his neck. Seeing that escape was futile, Kuno finally decided to sit quietly.

"Yes, I am," said Haruna. Sitting demurely on the blanket that separated them from the ground, she bowed slightly to Akane and Ukyou, who was still distracted by her thoughts and not really paying attention to what was going on. "I went to the United States with my husband some time ago, regretfully, leaving our children here to fend for themselves. My husband came back here to check on our dear ones, but he hadn't returned. While Hawaii was very nice, I grew lonely. So I returned as well."

"I see." That poor woman. She seemed like such a wonderful woman, not unlike her own mother, or Mrs. Saotome. Akane felt so bad for her having to be part of such a family.

"I must say, it's such a joy to be back," Haruna continued. "My son has grown into such a fine young man...if a little jumpy." Kuno cleared his throat and looked away. "And my daughter, what a remarkable woman she is."

Akane sweatdropped, "They certainly are something else..."

"My return was even more fortuitous for my daughter as well. For on my way back home, I ran into a very wonderful young man. He's incredibly handsome, not to mention gallant. He would make the perfect husband for her."

Kodachi addressed her mother but didn't look directly at her, "Mother, please! I will admit, that man you brought home is quite striking...those fangs are especially adorable. But still, I told you already that my heart belongs to another."

"Now, now daughter," Haruna chided. "You haven't given that young man a proper chance yet. You should really trust your mother. You know I'm a very good judge of character when it comes to choosing mates. After all, I chose your father, didn't I?"

Akane's jaw dropped. Hearing that, even Ukyou's head shot up. "Wait a minute," started Ukyou, dumbfounded. "You...chose him?"

"Absolutely," gushed Haruna. "From the first moment we met, I knew we were destined to be together. He was such a powerful man! And with that strong jaw and his other incredible manly features...I just couldn't resist. I had to make him mine, no matter what!"

Ukyou leaned in to Akane and whispered, "Well, that explains where they got that particular trait from."

Haruna patted her son's knee, "What about you, dear Tachi. Is there anyone you have your eye on yet?"

Kuno nodded, "As a matter of fact, I do." He put his arm around the youngest Tendo sister, "This is Akane Tendo, mother. We are quite madly in love."

Akane's eye twitched, "I don't know about 'love', but you got the 'mad' part right..."

Haruna leaned in and inspected Akane, looking her up and down; after which, she sat back in her spot properly and waved her hand. "I'm afraid not, son. She does seem quite nice from our little conversation; however, she's not very ladylike. In fact, if not for the dress, I would've sworn she was a boy."

"Is there any wonder why I left home before she showed back up?" Kuno mumbled in earshot to Akane and Ukyou. "Mother, Akane Tendo is a fine enough woman. She is very strong in her own right and her beauty is beyond compare."

"I am sorry, son, but my mind is made up. There is no way any son of mine is going to attach himself to such an androgynous trollop who, no doubt, is only after you for the increased status she would gain as your wife. Er...no offense."

As they spoke, Akane's ki blazed in anger. "None taken..." Belying her words, she stood up and procured a particularly nasty looking mallet with some particularly nesting looking spikes on the business end. Ukyou stood up and grabbed her hand, trying to keep her from doing anything she would regret later. "Let me go, I'm going to kill her," Akane tersely whispered.

"What are you getting so upset for?" Ukyou whispered back. "Don't tell me you really DO want to marry Kuno."

Akane stopped. "Well, no...but...she insulted me! I can't just sit back and let it slide!"

"Come on, Akane! You've just gotten a major get away from Kuno free card! That should make up for any verbal abuse...and yeah, I can see why he would want to run from her...still, just let it slide. You'll be home free if you don't blow it!"

Akane's arms slumped and she put the mallet away. "But...I wanted to hit her..."

"Kuno!" Ranma, in his female form and still dripping from the drenching he had taken from landing in the nearby gully, which was filled with water from the upstream rainstorm which had yet to arrive over Nerima, walked over to their spot, cracking her knuckles. "I want to have a few words with you!"

"PIGTAILED GIRL!" At seeing his second beloved, Kuno leapt up and crushed her in a gigantic bear hug before Ranma could do anything else.

Haruna raised her eyebrow, "And who might this be, Tachi?"

"This would be the girl of my dreams, mother! One day, she stormed into my life and made an impact that I have yet to recover from! We are also madly in love and I couldn't bear to make a choice between her and Akane Tendo."

"Mother?" repeated Ranma, shocked. That shock didn't last as some of Kuno's other words finally registered, "Madly in love?"

Haruna stood up and examined Ranma as she did with Akane. This time, a smile crept over her face. "I was beginning to worry about you, my son, but no more. This is more like it! Surely, this is a young woman with poise, grace and real beauty. She would make an exceptional wife."

Ranma's eye twitched, "Exceptional...wife?"

"In fact, I see no reason to wait. I've already brokered the services of a priest to have Kodachi married to the man I found for her. I see no reason why it cannot be a double wedding!"

"NOW WAIT A MINUTE!" Ranma shouted, taking a step back. Haruna pulled out one of her acupuncture needles and, faster than anyone expected, she zipped behind Ranma and poked the redhead in the back of the neck, rendering her body useless.

"RANMA!" Ukyou and Akane shouted at the same time.

Haruna hoisted the male in female form over her shoulder. "Kodachi, dear, if you would please?" With a sigh and a roll of the eyes, Kodachi stood and pulled her ribbon from where she kept it. With an elegant twirl, Kodachi created a mini whirlwind. Akane and Ukyou were forced to avert their eyes, allowing the Kuno family and the reluctant 'bride' to disappear in the gale of wind and black rose petals.

"They're gone!" lamented Akane, once she was able to reopen her eyes.

"Oh brother, as if there wasn't enough going on as it was. Don't worry, Akane, we'll get Ranma...er..."

Ukyou took a step back as Akane's ki flared again. She wasn't sure, but she could've sworn she saw Akane's eyes glowing as red as her aura. Her flaring ki was so intense, the grass beneath her was scorched away. "Okay, that does it!" Akane growled. "I'm going to get that woman! And this time, nothing's going to stop me!" And with that, she, for the lack of a better way to put it, blasted off towards the Kuno estate.

Ukyou blinked, "Geez, and here I thought I would have to go save Ranma. I may have to go save the Kunos instead..."

----+----+----+----+----

----+----+----+----+----


	6. Fate Worse Than

The early morning sun had emerged from the eastern horizon and was beginning its daylong trek towards the west...not that anyone could see it with the blanket of clouds covering the sky. The threat of rain had loomed over Nerima for as long as it had been bright enough to see. If things were to continue at this rate, she would have to call off her hunt. While a ninja was trained to endure all sorts of arduous conditions, Spring wasn't one to go through them if she didn't have to.

She sat perched on top of a small restaurant eating a small breakfast she had purchased from there. Spring could say one thing about this town; it had a glut of wonderful chefs. She couldn't remember eating anything as good back in her village.

Taking a bite of the ham and cheese omelette she cast her gaze upon the ominous clouds above. She wondered if she shouldn't wait for any rain to fall before calling off the hunt. After all, she didn't want her food to get soaked. Besides, it would give her the opportunity to 'play' with Mousse some more. When he said he was a master of hidden weapons, he wasn't kidding. She grinned, remembering just how well he handled his weapon. Her grin grew wider remembering how well she handled his weapon too.

Spring would have to properly thank her sister for allowing her to have such a...hands on weapons training session with her betrothed. The only real way she could repay Autumn would be for Spring to have her and Ryouga have an equally intensive 'sparring' session. Of course, that depended on whether or not she could take out that Ukyou woman who stood between her and Ryouga, hence the reason for the hunt.

Taking the final bite of the omelette, she sat the container down besides her and sighed. This was quite the quandary. The sooner she got Ukyou out of the way, the sooner Ryouga could be brought in on the fun. But should she brave the oncoming storm to resume her hunt, or should she go back to the comfort of her sister's place? She was so caught up in deciding whether or not to continue hunting Ukyou, she nearly missed the okonomiyaki chef as she ran by the building she was perched on.

"Hmm...I wonder where she's off to in such a hurry?" Spring wondered to herself. She shrugged and unsheathed the dagger she kept strapped to her back, "It doesn't really matter. With her so distracted, it'll make things much easier for me..."

Dreamweaver Studios Presents

Ranma½

And the Beat Goes On

"Fate worse than..."

With a slight groan, Ranma's eyes fluttered open. What in the world happened to her? The last thing she remembered was going after Kuno to get him back for that cheap shot he landed. But before anything could happen, this strange woman interrupted them...and, maybe Ranma's memory wasn't working properly, but did Kuno call that woman 'mother'?

Blinking the sleep from her eyes, Ranma took a quick scan of her surroundings. She did distinctly remember being outside before blacking out, but she was inside a building. She also quickly ruled out the nurse's office, as she didn't recognize the area. From what she could make out, the room was something of a small auditorium. There was a small stage in front of her with what looked like a liquor cabinet just to its right. Just beyond the stage, there was a shrine similar to the one in the Tendo Dojo. All in all, there was nothing in her immediate field of vision that could tell her where she was. At least it appeared she was in the room alone. She doubted it would be too much trouble for her to escape.

"What the..." exclaimed Ranma. "I can't move!"

"So, you're finally awake."

Ranma's head snapped up hearing the familiar voice. She turned her head to her right and found "RYOUGA?" Indeed, the man who had been the topic of conversation not too long ago was sitting before her. Looking into his eyes, he seemed to have been depressed about something, which was nothing new. What really intrigued Ranma was what he was wearing...a haoiri-hakama, a kimono worn at a traditional Japanese wedding by...the groom? It was only then that Ranma noticed she was wearing an uchikake, worn at a traditional Japanese wedding by a bride. Ranma went pale and looked at her longtime rival, "W-what's going on?"

Taking a long sigh, Ryouga responded, "we're getting married."

"SAY WHAT?" she yelled, getting visibly nauseous.

"Not to each other, you idiot!" said Ryouga, anticipating what was running through the pigtailed girl's head. "We've been taken by Mrs. Kuno and are being forced to marry her kids. I'll have the 'honor' of marrying her daughter, Kodachi."

"I guess that means I'll be marrying that son of hers." Ranma shuddered. "Suddenly, getting married to you doesn't sound so bad..."

"Eww!"

"Yeah, yeah!" There was only one person Ranma wanted to marry and she sure as hell wasn't going to be getting married in women's clothes. She tried to follow her first impulse and rip the offending garments off of her, but her arms remained in place. "Damn, why can't I move?"

"For the same reason I can't," said Ryouga. "It seems Mrs. Kuno is a mistress of acupuncture. I'm guessing these needles she stuck in the back of our necks are on some pressure points that keep us paralyzed from the neck down." "Aww geez, we can't just sit here and get married to the idiot and his psycho sister!" Ranma said, almost in a panic. "We gotta get out of here!"

"I'm open to suggestions..."

----+----

Sitting in his room waiting for the appointed time for the ceremony, Tatewaki Kuno meditated. Well, that's what he usually called it. In reality, he was ogling two life sized posters that hung in his room, provided by Nabiki Tendo; one of her younger sister, Akane, the other of the ever mysterious pigtailed girl. On the one hand, what was about to happen was a joyous occasion. The mysterious pigtailed girl would be mysterious no more.

To think that he, the great Blue Thunder feared the return of his mother...so much so that he fled and sought shelter within the Tendo household. Knowing his mother as he did, he didn't feel any good would come from her return. It would seem that for the first in a very long time, his conclusions were incorrect. Soon, he would be entering the bonds of matrimony with the woman of his dreams.

However, this would mean giving up on his first love. Although he stated before that he couldn't choose between the two, that he would have them both, his mother disapproved of Akane. And even he knew better than to cross his mother. Standing up, he walked over to the large poster of the youngest Tendo daughter and stroked the face printed upon it.

"I regret I was unable to free you from the clutches of that wretched Ranma Saotome so that you could take your rightful place at my side, beloved. I wish things could have turned out differently." He turned to the giant poster of his 'pigtailed girl' and continued, "However, now is not the time to dwell on what may have been. Now is a happy occasion and I should be in good spirits! Today is the day my life with the pigtailed girl truly begins!"

He checked himself in the mirror and made sure his haoiri-hakama was on properly. Satisfied with his appearance, he started towards the auditorium. "You need only wait a little longer, my love!"

----+----

The decorations were beautiful. The flower arrangements were absolutely breathtaking! Everything was the way she pictured it...everything except for one, very important detail...the groom. This was supposed to be the special day she shared with Ranma! She didn't even know anything about the guy that was waiting for her, other than the fact that he nearly destroyed all of Nerima in a fit of rage. Not taking away from the fact that the man was very attractive, but...it wasn't Ranma!

How could her mother do this to her? They hadn't seen each other in so long, and then she appears all of a sudden, saying she found the perfect man for her. How in the world would she know what sort of man would be perfect for her anyway? She already had her eye on the perfect man for her. She just knew if her mother had met Ranma, she would fall in love with him instantly the same way she did. She was hoping Ranma was going to be at her brother's school while they were there, but no such luck. She looked down at herself. The uchikake she was dressed in sported a floral print, with the center of each flower glittered with specks of gold. She knew Ranma would've loved it.

With a heavy sigh, Kodachi did what she normally did to soothe herself when she was extraordinarily stressed. With a large pot of fish in hand, she walked to the edge of the pond on her estate. She grabbed one of the fish and threw it over the water. Immediately, a crocodile, larger than life, leapt out of the water and enveloped the fish in its gigantic maw, downing it in one bite.

"It's so nice to see you're still taking care of Mr. Turtle."

Kodachi turned around. "Mother?"

"It seems like only yesterday when I brought it home for you. He was so tiny, he could fit in the palm of my hand. I cannot believe how big it has gotten. You have taken such wonderful care of him. I am confident you shall take equally as good care of your new husband." Haruna looked her daughter over and couldn't help but smile, "You look absolutely gorgeous, dear."

The younger woman forced herself to smile in return, "Thank you mother."

"Well, come on! We can't keep your groom waiting."

----+----+----+----+----

Well, so far so good. It didn't seem as though Ukyou was in any sort of danger. Once that crazy gymnast girl did that flower petal whirlwind, he was about to spring into action to defend Ukyou in any way he could. However, once all of the black rose petals settled, she, the moron with the stick and that older woman had all disappeared. It seemed, though, that the short haired girl that was with Ukyou...Akane if he remembered, was upset by something and took off. Apparently, Ukyou was following.

Blending into the background disguised as a fire hydrant, Tsubasa kept a close eye on his ladylove. His last visit to this town wasn't very long, so he had no idea it was this chaotic. He was supposed to have been watching out for that ninja girl that attacked Ukyou before, but so much else has happened since then. On top of it all, there was no telling what sort of trouble she was heading for at the moment.

Sure she was a martial artist and could take care of herself. Still that crazy town would end up being the death of her if she continued to stay. Really, there was no reason for her to anymore. He knew the story about her and Ranma, but that tie had been severed now that Ranma had decided to marry Akane. But there was still that Ryouga guy to deal with. Tsubasa didn't have much luck dealing with him on the battlefield, so maybe it was time for a different approach?

Maybe he was overcomplicating things? Maybe instead of coming up with another transforming battle suit (he didn't think he could do another one of those again for a long time; it cost a few bundles to construct the first one) or orchestrating some stupidly elaborate plan, he could just sit down and have a one on one chat with her. If he laid out his concerns about her well-being and asked her to leave that insane town, maybe she would be swayed by his thoughtfulness and run away with him?

Nah. There was no way in the world such a simple idea would work. Ukyou would always be so wrapped up in something, she would surely blow him off without a thought. He'd have to come up with one of those stupidly elaborate plans...

The plot would have to come later. Right now, he had to continue watching after her from the shadows to ensure she would stay out of trouble...right after he did something about the dog that was sniffing around his disguise. "Hey! What are you doing? Shoo! Get out of- Wait! You put that leg back down! NOOOOOOOO!"

----+----

Perched on the top of what looked like a dry cleaning store, Spring gazed down at her rival who had stopped at the end of the block. She seemed to be scanning the landscape about her looking for something.

It would appear something was going on. Whatever it was, though, it didn't matter. All that mattered was Ryouga. No matter what it took, he was going to be hers. This short pause was the perfect opportunity for her to strike and remove the obstacle between her and her intended. Reaching behind her, she unsheathed her wakizashi blade and hopped down.

----+----

Coming to a stop at the end of the block, Ukyou scanned her surroundings. This was strange; when in the world did Akane get so fast? This wasn't good. Ukyou's never been to the Kuno's house before and had no idea where it was. She leaned on the wall of the dry cleaning store she was next to and wiped off the sweat that was dripping from her brow.

Ukyou had a bad feeling about this whole situation. Kodachi and her brother are the most brash, abrasive people she knew, completely assured of their own superiority and...let's face it, they were both completely off their rockers. But their mother was on a whole different level. Kuno wasn't one to run from any challenge, constantly chasing after Ranma and recently Ryouga no matter how many times he would get beat up. Yet he ran from his mother. Both he and Kodachi seemed very afraid of her. They weren't even that way with their father, the principal, when he returned to Furinkan. If Mrs. Kuno could instill such fear in those two, what in the world could she have in store for her and Akane?

Whatever it was, she couldn't let Akane face it alone. The question was, where in the world was Akane headed? The logical place to start looking would be the Kuno place. Ukyou had never been there herself, but from what she understood, the Kuno family was rather wealthy and lived on an estate. And with how high and mighty the family seemed, it stood to reason they wouldn't find anywhere else suitable to hold their wedding. It was a good enough place to start. Even if they weren't there, maybe there would be a clue as to where they did go.

Taking one step forward, Ukyou's danger sense alerted her to an impending attack. As if in slow motion, Ukyou looked above her and found the ninja trained Amazon, Spring diving for her, with her dagger drawn. This was bad. Ukyou was so focused on the mess with the Kunos, Spring wasn't even on her mind. Inwardly, she cursed for having her guard down so completely.

A smile crept over Spring's face. During some of their 'get to know you' time, Mousse informed her that she shouldn't take Ukyou lightly, that she was a very accomplished martial artist. Apparently, Mousse severely overestimated the chef. One of the most fundamental lessons a martial artist learns is that you don't let your guard down. This would have to be a lesson she'll take with her to the afterlife. There was no way Ukyou could dodge or block her strike. Only a miracle could save her now.

"AROOOOOOOOOO!" Out of nowhere, a dog appeared, flying through the air. The airborne canine struck Spring in the head so hard, that her head fell forward, colliding with the okonomiyaki chef's head, causing both to fall to the pavement, stunned.

'I guess that would count as a miracle', Spring thought to herself. Shaking her head clear, she sat up and straddled Ukyou's torso, pressing her wakizashi's blade next to the chef's throat. "It would seem the whole damned town is against me, but it won't make any difference. I will satisfy my honor as an Amazon and Ryouga will be mine!"

Shaking the cobwebs out of her own head, Ukyou regarded her foe, "What are you talking about? You already have Ryouga. Why not just be happy with that and go?"

"If you're going to lie, at least come up with something better. I haven't seen Ryouga since that day at your school."

Ukyou blinked. So Ryouga wasn't with the ninja girl after all? Maybe Ranma was right, then? Maybe she was just worked up over nothing and Ryouga was just lost like he normally was...not that anything he would do should concern her that much. After all, she was just his friend, his boss and nothing more. He was his own man and could do whatever he wanted. Of course, she couldn't figure why all of this was running through her head now, while a dagger was being pressed against her throat.

Suddenly, her eyes widened as she remembered part of the conversation at school. 'Mother, please! I will admit, that man you brought home is quite striking...those fangs are especially adorable.' She was in such a fog at the time, she almost missed this when Kodachi said it, and didn't even pick up on the very important and very blatant clue. "Oh no, this is bad..."

Spring smiled cruelly, "Don't worry, you won't feel a thing."

"No, you idiot! I think I know where Ryouga is, and if I'm right, he won't be with either one of us!" Ukyou winced at her choice of words, making it seem as though she had an emotional investment in this as well. Can't worry about that now.

"Lying again to save your neck? It won't work."

"Just where did you think I was running off to in such a hurry? You keep wasting our time and Ryouga's going to end up married to another girl! And a psycho at that!"

Spring searched Ukyou's features for any sign of deception, but couldn't find any. Come to think of it, that made Ukyou's earlier accusation make more sense; it would seem that Ryouga had been missing for quite some time. Knowing nothing about her intended's propensity for getting himself lost, she became quite concerned. If what Ukyou said was true, then even if she managed to eliminate the chef as she wanted, then her husband-to-be would be out of reach regardless. Begrudgingly, she rose to her feet and allowed her rival to stand. "All right, I'll call a truce for now...at least until I'm satisfied that Ryouga is okay. But if I find out you're lying, I'll kill you on the spot."

"Yeah, whatever."

----+----

A block away from the action, Tsubasa sighed and wiped the sweat off his brow. That was too close. Who would have thought it? If it weren't for that stupid dog, Ukyou would have been sliced in two. He was worried when it seemed Spring still had the upper hand; there weren't any more dogs for him to toss. However, it seemed as though they worked something out as the two got up, the ninja girl sheathed her dagger and the two ran off.

Apparently, something else was going on, something so bad that the two of them decided to put whatever fight there was between them aside so they could both take care of it. Tsubasa figured it would be best to keep an eye on the two. Whatever trouble loomed, they would probably need help. Not only that, but he didn't trust that ninja girl around Ukyou.

Of course, before he could do anything, he would have to change disguises. His current one reeked of dog pee...

----+----+----+----+----

----+----+----+----+----


	7. The Wedding Crashers

Weddings were a joyous occasion; usually one the bride looks forward to the most. After all, this was her day; the day when she could dress up in the most lavish way to show off her beauty. As she strode up to the podium, she would smile, coyly yet knowingly at her handsome groom awaiting her arrival. And in this case, the bridal procession would also serve as a victory parade as she triumphed over the other girls who were competing for her man.

Such was the wedding Kodachi Kuno envisioned for herself. She would sneer at all of her romantic rivals as she passed them by. She would revel in their defeat; the look in each of their eyes as they all wished they could be her at that moment. Once she completed her trek to the altar, the priest would address the large gathering of family and friends. After what would no doubt be an unnecessarily long speech, he would finally get to the good part...the wedding vows. Only half listening to the priest, she and her groom would gaze at each other, lost in the other's eyes until he was done and each could breathlessly utter, "I do".

Then, with the power vested upon him from the state and from upon high, he would declare the happy couple man and wife. After waiting for so long, after so many hardships and so many obstacles, it would finally be time to seal the deal with a kiss...a long, slow lingering kiss. No doubt, that should plunge a dagger deep into the hearts of each of her rivals...that would only serve to make the kiss that much sweeter.

After the wedding would be a gaudy, overpriced wedding reception with plenty of food, dancing and mirth-making...and of course, cake! A huge four-tiered cake with the little bride & groom statues placed on top. It would be a good time for all...except for the new bride and groom, of course. Sure, they would put on happy smiles, graciously accepting the congratulatory sentiments raining on them incessantly; but it only served to delay them from the part they were looking forward to the most...

The HONEYMOON!

Oh, the things she should do to him then...so much pent up desire and frustration...he wouldn't be able to walk for a week. And while her new husband recovered from their nights of unending lust and passion, she would lay her head upon his chest, listening intently to his breathing and enjoying the rhythm of his heartbeat, all the while pondering her new life and new identity...Kodachi Saotome.

Alas, that is a dream that shall never be realized. For one, her day isn't only her day. She has been forced to share her day with that of another couple. Secondly, the lavish western wedding, with all of its trimmings, was absent, replaced with a more subdued traditional Japanese wedding. No long, flowing wedding dress, no huge, awe-struck crowd, no defeated enemies to gloat over. No, the only witness to the wedding would be her mother. Speaking of her mother, it was because of her that the third and most important part of the dream was absent...Ranma.

With a slight sigh, she lowered her head, casting her gaze upon the small cup of sake before her. Soon, she would have to take a sip from that cup, and then share it with the man to her side. Once that was done, her dream would die forever.

"Before these two young, promising couples are bound together from this day forward," Kodachi heard the priest say, "if anyone has any reason why they believe these unions shouldn't take place, let them speak now."

Though she herself wanted to object, she dared not go against her mother. In her dreams although all of her rivals were present, each of them were humbled before her and refused to speak when this part of the wedding came up. Now, she wish one of them were present to do-

KA-BOOM!

The wall furthest away from them in their private auditorium exploded, sending bits of wood and debris flying everywhere. Startled by the turn of events, everyone that could paused and turned their attention to the disturbance. For the first time that day, a smile crept upon Kodachi's face. As the smoke cleared and the lone figure stepped forward, the Black Rose breathed a sigh of relief. She did not know what prompted this intrusion, nor did she care. She simply thanked her lucky stars for bringing her unlikely savior...

Akane Tendo.

With a reddish halo dancing wildly about her, she stepped through the rubble. Casting her white-hot gaze to the priest, the youngest Tendo daughter said the two words that Kodachi, at that point, most wanted to hear.

"I object..."

-

Dreamweaver Studios Presents

Ranma½

And the Beat Goes On

"The Wedding Crashers"

-

"Welcome to Nekohaten. Let me show you to table."

As always, Shampoo dutifully greeted the customers with a smile as they walked in. Lately, though, her smile was very thin and strained. She was never the same since she found out that Ranma had decided to marry Akane. She vowed not to quit, of course; after all, they weren't married yet and anything could happen until then. However, it still had a visible effect on her.

It wasn't just that, though. She would never admit it, but Mousse leaving had also affected her. One moment, she was vying for the man of her dreams while being pursued by another. Then the next, everything was gone.

"Great grandmother, here are next orders."

As she took the orders from her great granddaughter, Cologne could see the hurt in her eyes. She couldn't help but feel bad for the younger girl. She felt some of that pain herself; if things didn't turn around and Shampoo actually did manage to marry Ranma, it would've been a failure even worse than before. Instead of gaining a strong man to bolster the power of their village, they would've lost two.

"Welcome to Nekohaten. Let me show you to...huh?"

What's this now? Cologne looked up from the stove to see whom it could have been to cause Shampoo to stop in her tracks like that. Standing in the doorway was another young girl that stood roughly Shampoo's height with long, deep blue hair that fell passed her waist and eyes with the same hue. It was the eyes in particular that caught Cologne's attention. They had the look of a warrior that had seen combat.

"Is elder Cologne here?" the girl asked, her commanding voice echoing throughout the dining room in perfect Chinese.

Walking out of the kitchen with her signature cane by her side, Cologne addressed the girl in her native tongue, "I am Cologne. What can I do for you?"

The visiting girl walked up to the Amazon matriarch and bowed deeply before going into a small brownish sack that was tied behind her back. She retrieved a small scroll and handed it to Cologne, bowed once more, and without a word exited the restaurant. Raising an eyebrow the Amazon matriarch regarded the scroll, noticing the official seal from the ruling council of her tribe. Carefully, she removed the seal and opened up the scroll. After reading a few lines, she visibly trembled.

"Great Grandmother? What is it?" asked Shampoo.

"Trouble..."

----+----+----+----+----

A palpable silence hung in the air for what seemed like forever as the two adversaries stared each other down. On the one side was a middle aged woman annoyed that the wedding she had arraigned for her two children was interrupted by someone whom she had already deemed unworthy. On the other, a woman in her late teens visibly seething with anger over the fact that her intended had been snatched away and was about to be married to someone else, though not the one everyone was thinking. The tension so thick, no one with half a brain dared to move, lest they would trigger the powder keg to explode.

"Akane Tendo, my love!!!" The only son of the Kuno family leapt to his feet and ran to meet his first love, "Your love and devotion to me has finally spurred you to act! Surely, your attempt to halt the wedding proves this! For a time, I thought I would be satisfied just having the pig-tailed girl at my side, but now I see the truth! My existence would be incomplete without you. Come! We three shall be married!"

Of course, Akane's first impulse was to punt the pontificating swordsman into space once he got into range. However, she never got that opportunity. "TACHI!" Just before he wrapped his arms around her in a crushing embrace, Tatewaki Kuno froze. "I told you before that she was not worthy of you. I shall not allow you to sully our family by allowing her to become a part."

"But mother," Kuno tried to protest. But Haruna shot him a stern glare that let him know it would be in his best interest not to continue. Defeated, the Blue Thunder of Furinkan High sat cross-legged where he stood.

"Now for you, girl," went Haruna, turning her attention to Akane. "It is clear how much you love my son, I will admit. To think you would crash into our abode to halt the proceedings. I must commend you on your bravery."

"I didn't come here for your son," spat Akane.

Haruna raised an eyebrow, "Is that so? Then why..." She looked down at the only other obvious choice, Ryouga. "I see, you've come for this young man then?"

Akane hadn't even noticed that Ryouga was also there sitting at the alter with Kodachi next to him. Given how dense the rest of the Kuno family was regarding Jusenkyo curses, the youngest Tendo daughter thought it best to play along. "Er...yeah! That's right! I won't allow you to have him married off like that. I've come to take my man back!"

Ryouga couldn't help but blush at what Akane was saying, "Oh, Akane! Could it possibly be true?" Ranma's eye twitched at everything she was hearing.

"Sorry girl," said Haruna as she changed her position to stand between the intruder and the person she came to rescue. "I have found him to be a fine young man, worthy of marrying my precious daughter. The only way for you to stop the wedding and take him away will be over my dead body."

"Heh," Akane chuckled, cracking her knuckles, "I thought you'd never ask..." The youngest Tendo daughter charged forward, leaving a red-hot trail in her wake. This was her first real battle since the incident with Arame and she had to admit, it was a major rush. This time, she wasn't the helpless damsel in distress; no, this time she was the powerful hero that shows up at the last moment to save the day and get the girl...boy...whatever he was at the moment. And with the power flowing through her veins thanks to her mother's legacy, Akane was sure that she could end the altercation with just one punch.

Rearing back, she let that punch fly with her full strength behind it; not caring about the deadly consequences should the punch land. She was always incredibly strong as a normal human being, but with that coupled with the inhuman powers she inherited, the blow she through would've been enough to take her opponent's head clean off. Though some would've found the un-earthly glow, phenomenal strength & speed and clear murderous intent intimidating, Haruna was unfazed. A split second before the killing blow landed, the Kuno matriarch sidestepped the attack and left her foot extended, causing Akane to trip and fall forward.

This wasn't how it was supposed to go. This was supposed to be her chance to shine...her chance to finally prove to herself and to everyone around her that she was now a force to be reckoned with after so many years of being the helpless little girl among the many powerful martial artists around her. In all of those times when Ranma had to save her, she never recalled him falling flat on his face by such a simple move. With a monstrous growl, she pushed herself off of the ground and lunged at Haruna once more.

"I think it would be best if we viewed this encounter from a safer vantage point." Kodachi reached around the back of her 'groom' and carefully removed the needle.

"T-thank you," went Ryouga. For the first time in many days, he was finally back in control of his body.

"Hey! Don't forget about me!" the redhead screamed from her spot.

"It would serve you right if I just left you here," scoffed Kodachi. "Then again, I couldn't stand the thought of you becoming my sister-in-law." She removed the needle from her rival's neck.

"Man! It feels good to be able to move again!" She stood up and stretched her arms and legs, happy to be mobile. Of course, she wouldn't be completely satisfied until she was out of that stupid uchikake. But first, "I'm comin' Akane! I owe that old lady for what she did-"

"DON'T YOU DARE!" screamed Akane. "This is my fight!"

Ranma paused, "A-Akane?"

"I think it would be best to just leave her be," Kodachi said.

At that time, reinforcements arrived in the form of Ukyou and Spring, both charging in with weapons drawn. The first thing the two women noticed were Akane and Haruna locked in pitched combat...or rather Akane locked in pitched combat with Haruna artfully dancing around the younger girl's attacks with a condescending smirk on her face. With the main antagonist detained for the moment, the new arrivals scanned the area, hoping their rescue attempt wasn't made too late.

Ukyou was the first to catch a glimpse of Ryouga, standing on the other side of the room, standing next to Kodachi and Ranma, all of whom were dressed in traditional Japanese wedding garb. It wasn't clear if they were in time to stop the wedding or not, but after not seeing him for so long, it was simply a relief to see that he was just fine. Her eyes welled up despite herself and she called out to him, "Ryou-"

"RYOUGA!!!" The interruption caused Ukyou to facefault. She didn't know when the ninja moved from her side, but the next thing she knew, Spring had the eternally lost boy locked in a crushing embrace.

"Why that little..." grumbled Ukyou, her eyebrow twitching.

"We came in time, didn't we?" Spring asked as she released her intended from her Amazon Death Grip of Love. "You're not married or anything, are you?"

"No," Ryouga responded. "Fortunately, Akane showed up just at the right moment to stop the wedding."

"Yes, I find myself in the unfathomable position of owing Akane Tendo a debt of gratitude," interjected Kodachi. "Unfortunately for her, she has chosen to do battle with my mother. There's no way she can win."

"What makes you say that?" asked Ukyou, joining the group. "Akane seems to be doing quite well. It seems all Mrs. Kuno can do is play keep away."

"Your analysis of the situation is woefully incorrect," said the venerable blue thunder. "Our mother is the strongest martial artist in the family. She was the one who trained my sister and I in the basics of martial arts before she and our father left for the United States. Along with the acupuncture, her discipline involves a very advanced form of Tai Chi."

As they spoke, Kuno's explanation was made perfectly clear. Akane's inability to strike her opponent made her more and more frustrated. As the girl's frustration grew, so did the intensity of the ki that danced around her, as well as the amount of force exerted in her attacks. Unfortunately, her growing anger made her attacks much sloppier and easier for Haruna to avoid. Finally, tired of humiliating the would-be rescuer, Haruna grabbed her hand in the middle of a punch and used Akane's existing momentum to propel her into an intact portion of the same wall she made her entrance though.

"I take it you understand the situation now?" Kuno continued. "It matters not how much more powerful the opponent is. Our mother's particular art specializes in using her opponent's strength against them."

Akane pushed herself upwards out of the rubble and tried to shake the cobwebs out of her head. She didn't understand. In all of the situations she had been in, she couldn't compete because she just wasn't strong enough. Now, she had more strength than she knew what to do with, and she was still losing.

Before she was able to get herself fully upright, Haruna appeared above her and jabbed a needle in the base of her neck. Akane's body immediately went limp and she crashed back onto the ground. "...why?" she whispered to herself just before she gave up and lost consciousness.

With the first intruder out of commission, Haruna turned to the other two girls, giving them an icy stare. "I don't know why you decided to crash my children's wedding, but I'm going to make sure you regret it."

Her hands disappeared within the flowing sleeves of her yukata and she began to spin in place. "DEATH BLOSSOM!" Acupuncture needles flew out of her spinning form, impacting the surrounding structures with such force that the needles went through them.

"PIGTAILED GIRL!" Quickly, Kuno leapt to his feet, drew his ceremonial dress sword sheathed to his side, stood in front of the female Ranma and began to deflect the incoming needles. "Stay behind me, my love!" Accordingly, Ukyou drew her battle spatula and protected Ryouga and the others from the lethal projectiles.

Some of the deflected needles impacted on the ceiling of the auditorium. The force of the impact caused deep cracks on the stone supports of the roof. After numerous strikes, the cracks met with each other, allowing the stone and the materials they were supporting to fall free, landing with loud thuds around the younger martial artists. Ryouga's protective instincts kicked in, diving on the female closest to him at the time, which in this case happened to be his "bride" to be, Kodachi, just before the two were buried under the debris.

Ukyou screamed, horrified, "RYOUGA! NO!!"

----+----+----+----+----

----+----+----+----+----


	8. What She Wants

With the first intruder out of commission, Haruna turned to the other two girls, giving them an icy stare. "I don't know why you decided to crash my children's wedding, but I'm going to make sure you regret it."

Her hands disappeared within the flowing sleeves of her yukata and she began to spin in place. "DEATH BLOSSOM!" Acupuncture needles flew out of her spinning form, impacting the surrounding structures with such force that the needles went through them.

"PIGTAILED GIRL!" Quickly, Kuno leapt to his feet, drew his ceremonial dress sword sheathed to his side, stood in front of the female Ranma and began to deflect the incoming needles. "Stay behind me, my love!" Accordingly, Ukyou drew her battle spatula and protected Ryouga and the others from the lethal projectiles.

Some of the deflected needles impacted on the ceiling of the auditorium. The force of the impact caused deep cracks on the stone supports of the roof. After numerous strikes, the cracks met with each other, allowing the stone and the materials they were supporting to fall free, landing with loud thuds around the younger martial artists. Ryouga's protective instincts kicked in, diving on the female closest to him at the time, which in this case happened to be his "bride" to be, Kodachi, just before the two were buried under the debris.

Ukyou screamed, horrified, "RYOUGA! NO!!"

-

Dreamweaver Studios Presents

Ranma½

And the Beat Goes On

"What She Wants"

-

It had been an interesting few weeks for Shampoo. First, Mousse left them...not just her or the Nekohaten, but the entire tribe. It was such a waste. It was true that she wanted him to stop perusing her romantically; that didn't mean she wanted him out of her life totally. He was a strong man and could have made a good husband...for someone else, of course...and a powerful ally. As it was, he now had the potential of making a powerful enemy. He may not have been much trouble for Ranma, but Shampoo loathed the possibility of having to fight him seriously herself.

She thought about the situation with Mousse before and wished him nothing but happiness. But lately, she's had a foreboding feeling that something could be coming down the pike...something that would eventually pit her against Mousse. She wasn't exactly sure why such a thought would run through her mind suddenly. It probably had something to do with that message her great grandmother got recently.

Ah, yes...that message that came for her great grandmother. That was the second thing. Ever since then, Cologne had been held up in her private study doing who knew what. She never shared what was in that letter, save to say it was "trouble". Shampoo never really liked how her great grandmother kept her in the dark about certain things, but with the very troubled look on her face, she figured it might have been better if she didn't know. It would've taken something extreme for Cologne to be so troubled. It made Shampoo nervous.

There was one thing that always helped her to feel better, though...visiting her darling Ranma. When she visited, something was guaranteed to happen that would liven things up and make her forget about stuff. Using her incredible Amazon strength, Shampoo launched herself into the air, bike and all, and with expert grace, landed in front of the gateway to the Tendo home. After leaning the bike against the outside wall, she went up to the front door and gave it a knock. Not her usual way of gaining entry into a building, but after her great grandmother started getting the bills for all the walls Shampoo demolished, the Amazon Matriarch became adamant that her charge should do things in a more civilized manner...or else.

The door to the house opened, revealing the eldest Tendo daughter. "Oh! Hello, Shampoo," she greeted.

"Hello," Shampoo returned. "Ranma home, yes? Shampoo would like to see."

"I'm sorry," said Kasumi, "but he hasn't come back home yet."

"Oh...I see..." Disappointed, Shampoo bowed and went back to her bike. No Mousse, no great grandmother, and now, no Ranma. Things really haven't been going her way lately. She was hoping she wouldn't be left alone with her thoughts, but it seems as though she had little choice now. There was nothing left for her to do, but go back home.

Suddenly, her honed martial arts senses alerted her to impending danger. The purple haired Amazon leapt out of the way just in time to avoid being impaled by a throwing dagger. Shampoo scanned her surrounding to see if she could locate her assailant, but aside from an elderly couple a block away going in the opposite direction, there was no one around. The sense of danger seemed to have passed as well.

Since it appeared that she was no longer threatened, Shampoo inspected the dagger that nearly took her life. Even though it missed her, it did manage to puncture the rear tire of her bike. The dagger itself was a work of art. The handle connected to the blade with a dragon's head and trailed back down to the end with very intricate and ornate designs. It was of such marvelous craftsmanship, Shampoo could've sworn that the weapon came from the blacksmith from her tribe.

She removed the dagger from the tire and placed it in the delivery box at the rear of her bike. Maybe her great grandmother could identify where the thing came from...

----+----+----+----+----

Dark.

It was so dark

Was he dead?

...No. He hurt too much to be dead. Not to mention the huge amount of pressure that was on his shoulders. It felt as though a ton of bricks fell on top of his head. Come to think of it, that was exactly what happened. Mrs. Kuno's attack buried him under a bunch of rubble. She may have appeared harmless, but she was proving to be one of the more dangerous opponents they have faced in some time.

Fortunately, this was a problem he had faced before and was well trained to rectify. One blast from his Shi Shi Houkodan would have cleared away that mess in an instant. Unfortunately, he wasn't alone under the refuse and he didn't know what a blast at that close range would do to her. Ryouga gathered a small portion of his ki; enough so that he could see his companion buried under the pile of wood, metal and concrete with him. "Are you all right?" he asked his would-be wife. Ryouga was positioned with his back on the rubble, on all fours, keeping the pile from collapsing on the girl beneath him.

Kodachi, who curled herself in a tight ball and clenched her eyes shut, opened them and glanced back at her marriage mate, "Y-yes. I do seem to be all right. You...you saved me!"

"I only managed to keep you alive for the moment," he returned. "We won't be safe until we're out of here." Tentatively, Kodachi placed a hand on his chest. She clenched her hand into a fist, grabbing onto his shirt and pulled herself closer to him. "Don't worry," said Ryouga, interpreting her actions as fear. "It's going to be okay. This isn't anything I haven't handled before. I'll make sure that we make it out of this in one piece. Count on it."

"You have my utmost confidence," said Kodachi. Ryouga never noticed her blush.

----+----

Above, Ukyou was getting frantic. She desperately wanted to jump on the pile of rubble and dig her roommate out. Ranma was also getting concerned for her long time rival. She didn't think that small amount of stuff would have had much of an effect on Ryouga, but it had been a while since he and Kodachi were buried and the pile hadn't moved. Perhaps the way the pile was situated, if he moved, Kodachi would be injured in some way. If that were the case then he would need help getting out on their end. Unfortunately, Haruna was still there, wanting to fight.

"Why do you want to fight still?" demanded Ukyou. "Your daughter is under there!" She was trying o use reason. She must have forgotten she was dealing with someone named 'Kuno'.

"I will retrieve my daughter and future son-in-law as soon as I have dispatched all of you," replied Haruna. "Only then will I know they will be safe from harm and can get married in peace. But first..."

Taking out one of her acupuncture needles from the folds of her kimono, the Kuno matriarch hurled it at the female Ranma. As expected, her son ran in front of the 'girl' and deflected it away from her. Before he could bring his ceremonial katana back to the ready position, Haruna darted behind him and inserted another needle in the base of his neck, as she did with Akane. Immediately, the Blue Thunder of Furinkan High School fell to the ground like a rag doll. "I can't have you getting in the way, or harmed during the battle, Tachi dear."

"Tch...It looks like it's just us now, Ranchan," went Ukyou. She brought her battle spatula to bear and chanced a glance at her one time fiancée. "Double team?

The situation was bad on many levels. Ranma didn't like fighting women and avoided it whenever she could. Plus, she didn't like the idea of physically ganging up on anyone. She always preferred a one on one test of strength. But with Ryouga buried and Akane in need of tending to, the pigtailed martial artist didn't have much of a choice. "Alright then! Let's get-"

"NO!" Spring stepped up, moving in between Ukyou, Ranma and Haruna. "I'll take care of her. I'll leave getting Ryouga out of there to you."

Ukyou was taken aback by the gesture. "Spring...really?" After thinking about it for a second, her continence fell and she raised an eyebrow. "Are you sure you can trust me to do this?" she probed.

"I doubt I could trust you with this fight. This calls for a warrior, not some unfeminine, second rate chef with the coordination and grace of a gorilla."

Ukyou's eye twitched again. "Okay, that's it. I'm gonna kill her this time!!!"

"Later, Ucchan! Later!" went Ranma, trying to calm her down. "You still have to get Ryouga out of there!"

"You're right," said Ukyou, taking deep breaths.

"Good. I'll go see to Akane."

"You would be wise not to lower your defenses!" warned Haruna, hurling another collection of needles as she did.

Still poised between the combatants, Spring unsheathed her short sword as well as a kunai dagger and deflected all of the mini-projectiles from striking their mark. "Forget about them. I'm your opponent now, old lady."

Haruna regarded the Amazon ninja-girl and raised her eyebrow. "Even after all that you've seen, you still think you can take me on one on one? Ah, the springtime of youth…to be so naive and deluded!"

"Deluded, am I? We'll see." Spring did a ninjutsu hand sign, clasping them together in front of her, with the index and middle fingers pointing upwards on her right hand, "SHADOW REPLICATION!" In a puff of smoke, two more Springs appeared standing on either side of the middle, original one. She looked to the clone on the right and instructed her, "Hang back. If one of her attacks makes it past us, make sure they don't hit Ukyou."

"Got it," said the first Spring clone. She stepped back, drew out her kodachi blade and got into a ready position between Ukyou and the battlefield.

Haruna smirked at the young kunoichi. "Very interesting trick. It would appear you possess more skill than the previous girl. I must wonder, however. Will your skill be enough to assist you in overcoming me?"

"That's what we're about to find out, isn't it?" taunted Spring.

"May I go first?" asked the second Spring clone.

The original nodded her head, "Sure. Go ahead."

"Thank you." With blinding speed, the second Spring clone drew her kodachi and charged after Haruna stabbing and slicing wildly at the Kuno matriarch. But as before, Haruna, with a condescending smile on her face, easily dodged every one of the attacks. This woman was no joke. Spring could understand why Haruna would be able to make sport of that Akane girl earlier. She had no finesse or technique. While she showed the signs of being trained and having a lot of potential, she was either very undisciplined or very inexperienced.

Spring, on the other hand, had the discipline and the experience of both her Amazon heritage and the training of the ninja academy she attended in Japan. Even still, the old lady was evading her attacks like they were nothing. There was no way to gauge exactly how strong she was...no way to tell exactly how much she's holding back.

"It is as I expected," said Haruna. "You talk a good game, but when it came right down to it, you were unable to perform. Hardly worth the time of one from the Kuno lineage."

"You shouldn't be so quick to make judgments, granny," went the second Spring clone. "I'm just getting warmed up!"

The Spring clone made a slashing attempt at Haruna's head, stopping short once the Kuno matriarch ducked to avoid it. Seeing the feint had succeeded, the young ninja followed with a low roundhouse, trying to punt the older woman's head off. But again, it seemed as though Haruna knew what the Amazon's next move was, darting right back upright, allowing Spring's foot to pass harmlessly in front of her.

"Gotcha," the Spring clone said, unexpectedly. Before Haruna could even verbalize the confusion she felt with a 'huh', the clone suddenly leapt into the air. As soon as the copy was out of the way, Haruna found the original had flung a kunai dagger and it was a split second from hitting her right between the eyes. With three acupuncture needles sticking out from between the fingers of her balled fist, Haruna instinctively swiped the kunai out of the air with enough precision so that it was a clean metal on metal hit.

"Impressive," complemented Haruna. "I have to wonder, how did your clone know just when to jump out of the way?"

"My clones are telepathically linked," explained Spring. "One knows what the others know and we're constantly aware of the other's movements. Though, we tend to talk aloud with each other to throw off an enemy."

"Very nice work," said Haruna. "Your clone was sent as a diversion, making those attacks, getting me perfectly situated for that final shot. And with your clone in the way, I had no idea that dagger was coming for my head until it was almost too late. I must retract what I said about you before. Surely, you have proven yourself to be a worthy adversary after all. However, as you plainly see, even with your well conceived plan, you have failed to best me."

The original smiled, "And what makes you think I'm also not a diversion?"

Her eyes going wide, Haruna turned her gaze upward towards the clone she had been fighting. The ninja duplicate was crackling with what appeared to be black lightening. It looked as though she had fallen into the Amazon's trap after all. The double was already too close for Haruna to dodge or block. She was going to get hit with the attack and from the looks of it, it was going to hurt...badly.

"SHADOW FLARE!!!"

The dark energy that surrounded the ninja moved and became concentrated in her hands, becoming a huge, black lightening ball. It hit Haruna square, exploding violently on impact and creating massive winds and a powerful shockwave that threatened to blow everyone present away. The force of the attack was so incredible, that while most of it plowed through the solid marble floor of the auditorium, some of it bounced back and blew a hole in the roof.

Through the thick fog of smoke and debris, the second Spring clone emerged. Her arms were singed from the blowback of her attack, but through it all, she seemed very pleased by the outcome of her assault.

On the side of the auditorium with the hole in the wall, Ranma watched the proceedings in awe. She had removed the needle in the base of Akane's neck, allowing her to move once again, but became transfixed on the battle once Spring unleashed her massive attack. The pigtailed redhead shielded Akane's prone body to ensure any flying debris didn't harm her once the shockwave hit, but even then, she couldn't take her eyes off of the ninja. Ranma thought Shampoo and Mousse were something else when they first arrived, but Autumn and Spring were on a whole other level. Were all of the members of their tribe so strong? And this was the group Mousse was joining up with?

She definitely needed to train more.

Just then, Ranma felt her fiancée's body shifting in her hands. "Akane! Are you alright?"

"R-Ranma," she croaked. "I...I'm sorry. Even now, with all this power, I...I still can't..." Tears welled up in the eyes of the youngest Tendo girl and she became too chocked up to finish her sentence.

"Hey! Don't be so stupid," the female Ranma said, trying to console her in her own particular manner. "You actually did pretty good back there. You should be proud of yourself."

On the other side of the auditorium, Ukyou got an even better view of the fight between Haruna and Spring. Was that really the same ninja girl that had been trying to kill her all this time? She had begun to dig through the rubble to rescue Ryouga, but as Ranma did, she became transfixed by the battle. For the first time, Ukyou got the feeling that she was in way over her head this time. She figured that dealing with Spring would be no different than dealing with Shampoo, but after this display, it was clear that there was no comparison.

Just as Ranma did, Ukyou came to the conclusion that she needed to train more.

Just then, the pile of debris from the first roof collapse began to move. Seeing this, Ukyou got back to her work, clearing the rubble away. It wasn't long until Ryouga emerged with Kodachi in hand. Both were unbelievably dirty, but none the worse for wear.

Ryouga shook off as much dirt from his hair as he could, and coughed up some that he breathed in. It was the best thing Ukyou had seen all day. "Ryouga!"

"U-Ukyou?" he coughed.

"Oh, Ryouga, I didn't know what happened to you when you were buried under all that! I was so worried!" She moved in closer to give him a great, big hug, but stopped short just in time, as another kunai dagger whizzed by mere inches from the tip of her nose "AAAK!"

"Oops! Sorry," the first Spring clone said as sweetly as she could. "I thought I saw the old lady reappear."

"Bad clone," said the original, with a huge grin on her face. "Very bad clone."

"I don't care how strong she is," Ukyou growled, "I'm gonna kill her!"

-Clap!- -Clap!- -Clap!- -Clap!-

Everyone turned back to the smoldering crater and stared, slack jawed, as Haruna re-emerged. Her kimono was all but gone, leaving her with what appeared to be a black bodysuit for clothing. Her hair was wild and unkempt; her body was covered from head to toe with cuts, bruises and filth. She was also bleeding from the mouth and a particularly nasty gash on her left leg.

"I can't believe it!" exclaimed Ranma.

"She took the full force of my Shadow Flare, and that's the extent of her injuries?" went Spring. "She's not just strong...she's also tough. Is she even human?"

"Once again...I must applaud you," she said, panting heavily. Haruna wiped the trail of blood from off of her face and continued, "Verily, you have proven me wrong in regards to your worth as a fighter. You have my respect, young one. That, of course, means, I will no longer hold back." The Kuno matriarch fell down to one knee and placed her ki enveloped right hand on the ground. "MAGNETIC EARTH!" A huge, glowing circle of energy appeared from her hand and trailed along the marble floor that remained undamaged, until all three Springs were standing on it.

As soon as the energy on the ground reached them, Spring and her clones also fell to their knees involuntarily. "Wha...what the hell???"

"I can use my ki to create a magnetic field on any surface. I'm using it now to grab on to the iron in your bloodstream. You're not going anywhere. Now, I'm going to pay you back for your interrupting my children's wedding, for that last attack of yours, and most of all, for all the times you've called me 'old'!" She stood up, wobbling side to side due to the injured leg and held her arms out to the side. "MAGNETIC AURA!" Using that technique, all of the acupuncture needles she had thrown up to that point freed themselves from wherever they had embedded themselves and were hovering all around her.

That included the one in the base of her son's neck. "Ye gods! I had forgotten how terrible my mother could be when she has become really enraged."

"Its a little bit late to be saying this stuff NOW, isn't it?" went Ryouga.

"How about telling us what we can do to get out of this?" asked Ukyou.

Kuno thought for a moment. "Saying a prayer couldn't hurt!"

-WOOSH!-

Thrusting her hands in front of her, Haruna directed all of the needles forward. Unable to move their hands or feet, Spring nor her copies could muster a defense as the needles implanted themselves in their chests, abdomens, arms and legs. The two Spring copies vanished in a puff of smoke, leaving only the original.

"It's over now," said Haruna, as she stalked closer to the fallen ninja. "Those needles have hit all of your major pressure points. Even if they were removed, you wouldn't be able to move for about six hours. You're helpless." With a wave of the hand, all of the needles that hit the disappeared clones were floating around her again. "I will deal with the other wedding crashers in short order, then my children's wedding will go on and they WILL live happily ever after...if they know what's good for them!" Her son and daughter bristled at her warning. "As for you..." She waved her hand upward and all of the needles pointed down at her. "Say goodnight!"

-BUZZZ!-

Everyone in the auditorium blinked. With the action that had taken place prior, that buzzing noise was very out of place. What happened next was even more of a shock. The needles that hovered around Mrs. Kuno fell all around her, making barely audible clanking noises as they hit the floor. As for Mrs. Kuno herself, her eyes glazed over and she fell flat on her face. Behind her stood her husband, Principal Kuno, with a pair of his trademarked hair clippers in hand. "My widdle coconut isn't da only one who knows a ting or two about pressure points."

"Father!" exclaimed Kodachi.

"Huh, this isn't much like you, father, to wait until such a pivotal moment to make your move," Kuno said. "I didn't even see you during the attempted wedding. In fact, I haven't seen you for much of the time mother were around. Why, pray tell, have you decided to make your reappearance at this particular moment?"

"Your moda was...erm..._happy_ to see me when she first came back and we had a welcome back party of sorts. A few hours o' dat an I was out of commission for a while."

"Eww!" went Kodachi.

Kuno covered his ears, "Blast it man, that was more information than I wish to have heard."

"I agree with you there," said Ranma, looking as if she wanted to throw up.

"Plus," Principal Kuno continued, "Dere was preparations to be made. I knew your moda was gon try someting like dis, so I made some arrangements."

"...You're going to be leaving us again, aren't you?" asked his son.

"Sorry, little ones," said Principal Kuno. "But it looks like I'll have ta be goin' on anoda extended vacation. Ya know dat odawise, your moda would'na stop her rampage dere." He hefted his wife into his arms and started towards the hole in the wall Akane made. "Da plane tickets and everyting have been taken care of already, so we'll be leaving now. I see you kids again soon."

"Heh, that's our father," said Kodachi as she watched her father carry her mother out. "For all of our differences, he has come through and saved us yet again."

Ukyou blinked, "Wait a minute...are you saying that was the reason why he left before?"

"Correct," answered the venerable Blue Thunder. "As you have just witnessed, mother can be a very willful woman. Once she has it in her mind that a certain course of action is appropriate, she let's nothing stand in her way...not even logic or reason. She's not as level headed as the rest of the family." At that statement, there was a collective groan by everyone not named Kuno.

Kodachi picked up on the explanation, "The last time it happened, our father decided it was best to take her out of the country to cool off...that, or dump her somewhere where she couldn't cause too much damage. He chose the Hawaiian islands in America."

"Hopefully this time, he'll choose someplace farther away," commented Ryouga.

"I'm just glad that it's finally over," Ukyou said.

"Yes, and seeing that it is over," went Kuno, "I would appreciate it if you miscreants would kindly get off our property!"

"You don't have to tell us twice!" quipped Ryouga as he and Ukyou made a beeline out.

"Now then, I must tend to my beloveds, Akane Tendo and the pigtailed girl!" By the time the mighty Tatewaki Kuno had turned his attention to the two girls, they had already beat a hasty retreat themselves. "Whither my loves???"

As her brother exited the auditorium in pursuit of his two true loves, Kodachi stood, staring out of the hole deep in thought. Her mother's methods were way too forceful, to be sure. However, it would seem that her choice in potential grooms wasn't that far off the mark. Before, Kodachi regarded Ryouga as an uncouth ruffian with an odious wish to inflict harm on her beloved Ranma.

But this experience showed her another side to him. He was a powerful yet gentle man. Clearly, this was a man strong enough to move mountains, but sensitive enough to handle a treasured flower like her. He was a man of honor. He was a man of conviction. And as she mentioned before, he was quite the handsome man in his own right, especially the fangs. To think, she was but a hair's breath away from calling him 'husband'. Perhaps that wouldn't have been such a terrible fate after all? Perhaps, that was a fate worth pursuing?

"Ryouga Hibiki...hmm." With a sly smile on her face, she strode out of the auditorium, thinking about the strange twist fate has bestowed upon her.

----+----

Late afternoon had become early evening and the sun had began its slow decent into the western skies. With the day's events passed, everyone involved decided to call it an early night and went back to their various places of abode to recover. Because of this, the neighborhoods, even the ones with the more notorious members of the martial artist community, were quiet.

All of them, that is, except for the neighborhood of the Kuno estate, where there was still one person who wasn't quite able to leave the battle area...

"Hello?" called Spring. She was still lying on the cold, marble floor unable to move with the acupuncture needles protruding out of her pressure points. "Hello? Is anyone out there? Someone, please help meeeee! I have to go to the bathroom!!!"

----+----+----+----+----

----+----+----+----+----


	9. Okay Now What?

The early morning sun slowly peeked over the horizon marking the start of a new day. For the first in a long time, though, Shampoo was unsure about whether it was going to be a good day or not. She looked at the clock next to her bed and saw that it read 8:34am. Obviously, her great grandmother was still indisposed. Otherwise, Shampoo would've been given a swift rap on the head for sleeping in so long. Cologne always demanded Shampoo wake up at 6:30 every morning at the latest. Was Cologne really that shaken up over what was in that message?

Throwing the covers off of her, the purple haired Amazon stat up and rubbed the sleep from her eyes. She was hoping the tribal matriarch would have emerged from her inner sanctum by now to share what was going on, or to at least lie to her, saying there was nothing wrong. At least then, Shampoo could approach her with the evidence of the attack made on her by the unknown assailant.

Lying next to her alarm clock was the piece of evidence in question. The ornate dagger shimmered in the rays of sun that were peering in through her window. For what had to be the tenth time since she removed it from her bike tire, she picked up the projectile and inspected it, going back over the carvings and craftsmanship of the weapon to see if she could gleam any insights from it herself. If only the thing could talk to her and tell her the story of its origins.

With a sigh, Shampoo stood to her feet with the dagger in hand and strode out into the hallway. When she went into seclusion, Cologne gave Shampoo instructions not to disturb her. Usually, Shampoo was not one to disobey her great grandmother's orders, but this was too important to let go unattended for too long.

While walking down the hall, Shampoo passed by a certain door...one which lead to a room that, until very recently, had been occupied by her would-be suitor, Mousse. Usually, it would be around this time when he'd stumble through the doorway and hug the nearest item he could find, yelling, "I love you, Shampoo!" She almost missed that daily ritual. The halls of their home seemed a bit emptier now with him gone. Of course, she would never admit that to anyone if they asked. He's probably living it up now with that wench from that other tribe doing who knows what with each other.

Right then, Shampoo had a disturbing thought. Perhaps they were all related somehow? The girl from the other tribe, the attempt on Shampoo's life and that letter Cologne was given? Coming upon the door to Cologne's room, the young girl's mind began to race. For all she knew, that girl that was now involved with Mousse was the one that tried to kill her. It wasn't out of the realm of possibility, as she practiced the hidden weapon style same as he did. And they did have a less than friendly encounter just before Mousse decided to leave with her.

If that were true, then that letter her great grandmother received was probably...

"Exactly how long were you going to stand, loitering around my door, child?"

Shocked, the purple haired Amazon took a step back, "Great Grandmother!" She had been so lost in her own thoughts, Shampoo didn't even notice when the door opened and the old woman stepped out.

"I had a feeling you would try to come and speak to me today. No doubt you're interested in that message that was delivered the other day, hmm"

Read her like a book, but that was Cologne for you. "Shampoo curious yes...but not just that. Look at this!" She handed the dagger to the Amazon matriarch.

Cologne's eyes went wide, "W-where did you get this?"

"Someone attack Shampoo with it. Shampoo not get a good look at who it was, though."

"I see," went Cologne. There was a tone of resignation in her voice. "Then it's already too late. It's begun..."

Shampoo gave the wizened old woman a sidelong glance. "What begun?" Cologne returned Shampoo's gaze with a very grave look. In answer to the girl's question, Cologne uttered a single word and in that word, confirmed all of the worst possibilities that played out in her racing mind. It confirmed everything that Shampoo was hoping was just a product of paranoia...

"War."

-

Dreamweaver Studios Presents

Ranma½

And the Beat Goes On

"Okay...now what???"

-

Was it ever a good day to be alive! Spring hopped out of her bed with a huge smile on her face and nary a stitch of clothing on. She always found the moral fiber of most "civilized" society to be too constraining for her. It was pretty much how she felt about clothing in general. After some harsh scolding by her tribal elders and the masters at the ninja academy she attended, she acquiesced and made sure to wear clothing while out in public...at least enough to pass as "decent".

But there was no reason for her to remain confined by synthetic garments during her sleep periods and never bothered with any nightgowns or anything of the sort. What was the point? Besides, when she finally defeated that Ukyou girl and had Ryouga all to herself, they would both be in their birthday suits the majority of the time anyway doing the things that young couples did.

Ah, Ryouga. There was a good reason to be alive if ever there was one. She was happy that she got to him in time, or else he would've been married off to that Kuno. Okay, sure, the battle didn't turn out the way she was hoping it would. Sure, she was stuck there at the Kuno estate for who knows how long unable to move. The point was Ryouga was safe and still available. And Spring herself was saved thanks to the Kuno servant, Sasuke who, conveniently was on vacation while Haruna was around.

After a long, invigorating stretch, the ninja girl went out to the living quarters to see what's cooking for breakfast. With breakfast taken care of, Spring was going to go out, deal with Ukyou once and for all, take a nice, long bath to wash away all the blood and any entrails that may have accidentally splashed on her, have a nice lunch, then enjoy Ryouga for desert...over and over and...Yes, it was a good day to be alive!

Upon entering the dining area, Spring's senses was assaulted by a palpable stench. At the table, she spotted her sister, Autumn, along with her soon to be brother-in-law, Mousse. From the dishes on the sink, Spring deduced that they had already finished their breakfasts and were chatting with each other over a pot of that disgusting tea Autumn liked to drink. She claims that it had curative properties and could help prolong your life. Spring always thought that was a crock of BS. The smell alone could knock twenty years off your life. There was no way something that smelled so bad could be helpful.

Still, her stomach demanded attention and if there was one thing the ninja girl was bad at, it was ignoring her body when it desired something. Taking controlled breaths to inhale as little of the fumes as possible, Spring soldiered in. "Good morning!" she greeted.

"Good Morning, Spring. How are...GAH!!!" went Mousse, his mouth agape.

Used to her sister's shenanigans, Autumn put her fingers upon the bridge of her nose and shook her head. "Did you forget something, Spring?"

Spring scratched her head, confused. "Forget something? Like what?"

Mousse turned around, trying his best not to look directly at her. "Where are your clothes?"

The ninja girl went up behind Mousse, wrapped her arms around his neck and nuzzled his cheek. "Aww, you know you like seeing me like this. Admit it!"

That Spring. Ever since she became of age to know anything about sex and boys, she's been like this. But she's never been this bad before. Ryouga must've really done a number on her if she's this frisky. "Mousse, would you be a dear and get the shop ready for opening?" asked Autumn.

"No problem. If you'll excuse me." With that, Mousse stood up, extricated Spring from his person and left the dining area.

After he was gone, Autumn rested her head in her hand and let out a long, exasperated sigh. "Why do you keep teasing him like that?"

"What's the matter sis?" asked Spring, playfully. "Don't want to share?"

Autumn raised an eyebrow. "You haven't asked yet. Besides, I don't think you want him at the moment anyway. I'm betting all of your hormones are screaming for Ryouga right now."

At that moment, Spring did something her sister was unaware she was capable of doing. She blushed. "You're right." She sat down in the chair Mousse vacated. "Right now, the only person I'm interested in getting my hands on is Ryouga. I've already been through so much for him, I'd feel cheated if I were to do anything with anyone else."

"So, have you dealt with that Ukyou girl yet?"

"...er...no. Not yet. Something stupid came up that diverted my attention. Ryouga was almost married off to some other girl and we had to go stop that whole fiasco. But now that that mess has been taken care of, I should be able to finish my hunt with no problem."

Autumn raised her eyebrow again. "So that means you've failed to defeat her twice?"

"No! Like I said, we just got a little sidetracked in my last attempt..."

"Attempt being the key word," Autumn interrupted. "The facts are, you've tried two times to defeat her and no matter what circumstances may have come up, you haven't been able to do it in either of those two attempts. You know the rules. You only have one attempt left to beat her and get your man. You know what happens if you fail this time."

The cheery demeanor that adorned Spring's features had warn away during the conversation. As much as she hated to admit it, her sister was right. The rules of their tribe were that inflexible. The fact she had to abort her previous attempt to best Ukyou in order to save the man they were fighting over bore no weight in the matter. She had gotten two strikes against her already. She had to make this last attempt count. "-Sigh-, I guess I'd better get going now."

"And breakfast?"

"...I'm not hungry." With a look of grim determination on her face, Spring stood from the table and walked out of the dining room.

Closing her eyes, Autumn took a sip from her cup of tea. Spring should've known better. If she weren't so distracted with Ryouga, she would've remembered...Autumn's eyes snapped open. "AND SPRING! MAKE SURE YOU PUT SOME CLOTHES ON BEFORE YOU GO OUT!" she yelled, making sure her sister wouldn't be too distracted to remember that as well.

----+----+----+----+----

Standing in the middle of the Tendo back yard, Ranma stretched and looked at the morning sky. The sun smiled brightly upon him for what felt like the first time in a long time. The birds were perched on the top of the Tendo home seemed to sing a happy song just for him. Even the koi in the pond appeared to be jumping for joy. Ranma didn't get to say so often, but after recent events he had to admit it was true...today was a good day.

-BOOM!-

Ranma was feeling so good, he felt like shouting to the world what a great day it was. With his mother out of the picture, Kuno had packed up all his things and had moved back out. After a thorough disinfecting, Ranma and Genma had moved back into the Tendo's guest room. It was the first time in a while they've been able to sleep comfortably...especially Genma. It felt so good to be back in their old room, the old man didn't even wake up early and toss him into the pond to start a sparring match.

-CRASH!-

And the best part of it all, Ranma managed to escape becoming the kendoist's wife. Truly, Ranma would rather have died in one of his many battles than to have to endure such a horrid fate. He always had this preconceived notion that Mrs. Kuno was a sweet, normal lady who so couldn't stand being around the rest of them, that she ran off. To think that it was really the other way around this whole time. If the core family was that insane, he would've hated meeting any relatives. It was by the slimmest of margins that he was able to escape that tragic end. It was fortunate for him that Akane showed up when she did.

-WHAM!-

Speaking of Akane, she seemed to be in quite the mood. She always seemed cranky and violent, but that was normal. Ranma only got worried when she became quiet. She hadn't said a word since returning from the Kuno estate. In fact, Ranma hadn't even seen his fiancée yet that day. She had gone into the dojo early, completely skipping breakfast. From the sound of things, the dojo was getting so torn up, Mr. Tendo would have to rebuild it again from the ground up. He had an idea what was bothering her. A part of him wanted to go in and try to cheer her up, but he didn't think he could say or do anything that wouldn't make her feel worse, or set her off. For the moment, he thought it would be better to let her blow off some steam.

After all, repair bills are a lot cheaper than doctor bills.

"Akane seems to be in rare form, doesn't she?" Ranma was so lost in his thoughts he hadn't noticed Nabiki coming up behind him.

"She's just goin' through some stuff now. She should be fine," Ranma returned.

"Oh? I see." The middle Tendo daughter paused for a moment. Raising an eyebrow, she continued, "I notice you're not doing anything to help her feel better. What, did you two get into another fight or something?"

Ranma shook his head, "No, it's nothin' like that."

"What???" bellowed Genma. He emerged from the house and got in Ranma's face, "After all the headway you two have made, don't tell me you've started fighting again, boy!"

"I'm tellin' ya it ain't like that!" went Ranma, his voice raising.

"Well, you must've done something to get her so angry," Nabiki commented.

"Why is it when something happens to Akane you guys automatically think it's me!?" Ranma said, yelling now. "There are other people who live here too, you know!"

"Listen boy," his father started. "Whatever happened, you have to go in there and apologize...make it up to her."

"I didn't do nothin' to her! I don't got anything to apologize over!"

Genma crossed his arms, trying to look as sage as possible, "It doesn't matter. What does matter is how she feels. It's all part of marriage, son. You have to look out for each other and that includes making sure she's taken care of emotionally. Now you get in that dojo and to come out until everything's straight between you two. Understand?"

Ranma threw his hands into the air, "Fine...if it'll at least get you guys off my back." He started stomping towards the dojo.

"Hey Ranma, wait up!" called Nabiki. She ran up to him and pulled a bottle. "Here."

Ranma looked at the offered bottle. It seemed to contain some sort of gel type substance. On the front of the bottle was a label that had the letters K and Y in big bold type. He blinked, "What the...?"

"A just in case thing. Depending on how, exactly you go about making up," Nabiki said with a wink.

The pigtailed martial artist blushed, "Geez...you people are sick!" Thoroughly repulsed, Ranma spun on his heel and continued stomping towards the dojo, leaving Nabiki where she stood, her hand still reaching out, offering the bottle. After a few seconds, Ranma stomped back to Nabiki, grabbed the bottle and resumed his march to his fiancée.

"Oh and by the way, it'll cost you a thousand yen for every ounce of the stuff you use!" Nabiki called after him. Quickly, she dodged to the right just as Ranma flung the bottle back at her.

----+----

Slowly sliding the door open, Ranma took a tentative peek inside the dojo. There were a multitude of broken wood and brick fragments all over the floor. Taking a quick look around, Ranma guessed there were probably ten or so holes in the walls. All things considered, it was in pretty good shape. At the far end of the dojo, Ranma saw his fiancée hunched over with her hands on her knees, panting heavily. It would appear she had been exercising for the entire morning and had worn herself out.

It looked safe to enter, but Ranma just wanted to make sure, "Yo, Akane. It's me. I just wanted to see how you were doin' so don't throw anything at me or nothin' okay?"

"You, -pant- you're not coming in here to make fun of me are you?" quipped Akane. She tried to level the pigtailed martial artist with a mean glare, but she was too tired to contort her face properly. "If you are, you can just turn around and walk right back out."

"Geez, ya don't have to bite my head off," Ranma returned in a huff. "I said I was comin' in here to check on ya and that's what I mean. What in the world is your problem anyway?"

She turned completely around to face him. "You want to know? You really want to know? My problem is that I'm a pathetic WEAKLING! There, you happy now?????" At the admonition, she fell to her knees.

"Wha...what're you talkin' about? You're not weak."

"Pfft...spare me. Half demon or not, I just seem to be getting in people's way. I had one opportunity to stand on my own two feet...one chance to show you that you could count on me as much as I've counted on you, and I blew it. Mrs. Kuno beat me so easily..."

"I wouldn't worry about that too much," said Ranma.

"Easy for you to say."

"Really. Mrs. Kuno was...somethin' else. That was the only way I could put it. She may not have looked like much, but she was clearly on a whole other level when it came to martial arts ability. The only reason why we got outta there was because Principal Kuno snuck up from behind and stunned her."

"You would've found a way."

"I dunno about that..."

"I do," her eyes began to fill with tears. "You've fought against people far stronger than you and you've always managed to find just the right technique, just the right trick to win in the end. I just thought once...just this once, I could...I could..."

"Aw, geez, don't start cryin' on me now," Ranma walked up to her, knelt beside her and put a hand on her shoulder. "All you need is some more training. I mean, ya haven't really done any in a while, have you?"

Akane sniffled a bit, "You are right about that, I guess...maybe...maybe you could train me?"

Ranma blinked, "Er, me???"

"Why not? You obviously have a knack or these sorts of things. And you have all of those amazing techniques you use."

"Er...well," started Ranma, fidgeting.

"Training?" The door to the dojo flew open and Genma and Nabiki strode in. "Is that all you wanted?" Genma asked.

"Don't tell me you guys were listening in on us again?" demanded Ranma.

"We were hoping for some juicy stuff," said Nabiki. "You guys are so disappointing."

The elder Saotome adjusted his glasses and cleared his throat," Yes. Erm...be that as it may, if its training you want, then I'm your man."

"You, Mr. Saotome?" went Akane.

"That's right. The boy may be able to learn things easily, but his ability to teach those things leave much to be desired."

Ranma crossed his arms, "Humph, announce it to the world, why don't ya?"

"Not only that, but I still have a few tricks up my sleeves. You don't think while you kids are off on your little adventures that I just sit on my duff all day drinking beer, do you?" Ranma, Akane and Nabiki all turned their heads away, trying to look as innocent as possible. "Besides, it's the least I can do for my soon to be daughter-in-law. What do you say? Think you can handle training under me?"

Akane wiped her eyes. "You bet! As long as it's nothing stupid, like the Cat Fist."

"Of course not! Don't be ridiculous!" He quickly pocketed the copy of 'The Cat Fist 2.0-This Time It Works...Honest' he was holding behind his back. "Pack your bags! We're going on a training trip!"

----+----+----+----+----

For the first time in a while, Ucchan's Okonomiyaki was jumping. Even though it was just early afternoon, many people were already packed inside its walls, happy to see it finally open after its latest extended closing. All of the regular customers were relieved to see it was only for the day and that there was no extensive damage to repair this time.

Inside the restaurant, the patron was unusually happy herself. Ukyou lightly brushed some of her secret, home made sauce on an order of the house special while absently humming a tune to herself. She wasn't exactly sure why she was so happy. It was just another uneventful day providing the working public with a nice, hot meal. Then again, uneventful days had become a rarity lately. With all the weird stuff happening to her these days, a busy day taking care of customers was like a vacation.

Then there was her helpmate, Ryouga; the one that seemed to attract a lot of the trouble. He seemed fairly content as well, delivering the orders as they became ready and bussing the tables after the customers were through with them. She couldn't remember the last time she had saw him so close to being happy. Of course, narrowly avoiding marriage to a nutcase like Kodachi Kuno could bright the gloomiest outlook. Ukyou had to admit to herself that he looked kind of cute when he didn't have that dower look plastered on his face.

Using her mini spatulas, Ukyou removed the dish she was working on from the grill and placed it on a plate, "Order for table number seven ready!"

"Right!" answered Ryouga.

Bemused, she watched as he picked up the plate and strode over to the proper table, delivering the perfectly cooked house special to the waiting customer. With the way Ranma went on about Ryouga's sense of direction, she thought he probably wouldn't be able to find his way from the counter to the proper table without taking the scenic route through Tokyo first. Obviously, it was an exaggeration. True, on a journey of any real distance, he probably would wind up on the moon, but in a confined area like this, he did exceptionally well.

Still lost in thought, she poured some fresh batter on the grill and began working on her next order. She had to admit she had Ryouga all wrong when she first met him. She thought he was an idiotic buffoon that may have made a good tool to get her Ranchan. But he had a thoughtfulness and sensitivity that seemed to belie the bulldozing power he wielded in his hands. Thinking about him objectively for the first time, Ukyou wondered how in the world a guy like him didn't get a girlfriend yet.

Ukyou blinked. For some odd reason, her gut began to tighten up in knots. Why in the world did she suddenly start feeling that way? It obviously couldn't be that she didn't like the idea of Ryouga with some girl. After all, they were just friends. She took her mini spatula and flipped the okonomiyaki. Whomever Ryouga decided he wanted to be with was his business...hmm...slightly overcooked. Now how did that happen? Well, whatever. If Ryouga decided he wanted to be with someone, it would be a good thing. He deserved to meet a sweet girl, fall in love and have a happy life. As long as it wasn't...

Suddenly, Ukyou spun around and threw the mini spatula she was cooking with at a dark corner in the kitchen. There was a blur of motion and, in a flash, Spring was kneeling in front of her, the thrown spatula between her fingers.

"Heh, not bad," went Spring. "You've got really good instincts."

"You've got a lot of nerve sneaking in here like that," Ukyou said, narrowing her eyes.

Spring raised her eyebrow. "Maybe I should have crashed through your wall instead?"

Not with the repair bills she's been hit with lately. "What do you want?"

"I want to challenge you to a duel," Spring said. "I want to ensure that there won't be any more interruptions when we finally have it out."

"A duel, huh? That's fine with me. Anytime you're ready. Just name the place."

"That high school where we first met. In five days."

Ukyou paused for a moment. "Okay, how about another place? I doubt the school administrators would be very happy with us having another fight at the school so soon after Ryouga had his fight there. We can have it at the park. Your sister should know the way."

Spring nodded, "That's fine. I'll see you then." She looked at Ryouga, who had walked up behind Ukyou as the two girls were conversing. "And I'll be seeing a lot more of you afterwards." After giving him a wink, she clasped her hands together and disappeared in a puff of smoke.

"A duel, huh?" Ryouga repeated. "You think you're ready to take someone like her seriously?"

Ukyou shook her head. "Right now? No. I guess I'll have to close up shop again for a while. I need to do some serious training."

----+----+----+----+----

----+----+----+----+----


	10. Training Day

"What a haul!"

"GET HIM!!!" It was another, average day in the Nerima district. The infamous founder of the Anything Goes School of Martial Arts, Happousai, had just completed another satisfying day of work. Unfortunately, that work consisted of pilfering various undergarments from various young, attractive women around the district. A small group of those women under the unfortunately ironic name "Perversion Elimination and Resistance Volunteer Squad", or P.E.R.V.S, lead by Miyabi Naria have given chase to the pint sized martial artist to avenge those who have fallen victim to him and retrieve their stolen items. "YOU'RE NOT GOING TO ESCAPE FROM US THIS TIME, YOU LECHER!"

"Ah, what a glorious way to live out one's days," Happousai mused as he bounded along happily with the huge sack of stolen women's underwear slung over his shoulder. "The sun shining brightly overhead and being chased by so many lovely girls. It's enough to make an old man feel like a kid again!"

It was early morning in Nerima. As such, the streets were crowded with children of various ages heading for their various learning institutions, along with adults heading to their various locations of employment. Although he was being pursued by an angry mob, Happousai took the time to identify the attractive women and older college and high school girls in the group, making sure to hoist up the skirts for some and cop feels from others. Most of the accosted women screamed in surprise or embarrassment, with some of the heartier girls joining the mob chasing after him.

"This is the life!" said Happousai, absolutely giddy. "And with nary a soul to spoil my fun for a change!"

He turned a corner and came to a dead stop as he laid eyes on what was one of the most beautiful girls he had ever seen. She was a tall as Ranma was in his male form and looked to be around Kasumi's age. She had a bust that rivaled Shampoo and a derriere so perfect it made his jaw drop. Her hair was a very dark brown done in a ponytail that fell well down her back. To top it off, she wore a red ankle length Chinese styled dress embroidered with floral prints and with two splits that ran all the way up to her waist.

Happousai had a hard time keeping his tongue from dangling outside of his mouth. There was no way in the world he could pass her by without copping a feel. He leapt into the air and with the precision of a master, he dove right for her ample chest. "SWEETO! Come to papa!!!"

-WHAM!-

Before the perverted old troll could comprehend what happened, he found himself face down in the sidewalk, with the girl's foot pressing firmly on the back of his head. Looking down at the shriveled up old man, the girl cocked an eyebrow, "What in the world is all this about?"

Miyabi, along with the rest of the angry mob turned the corner just in time to witness the new girl take down Happousai with amazing ease. Stopping to catch her breath for a little, Miyabi approached the girl, "Wow, that was amazing! You're a martial artist, aren't you?"

"Um...yeah," said the girl, still not sure what to make of the situation.

"That's great! My name is Miyabi. Miyabi Narita," she bowed as she introduced herself. "I'm part of...er," she paused, a little embarrassed at the group's current name. "Part of a group of concerned citizens that have banded together to fend of perverted creeps like that one. Unfortunately, we're at a disadvantage because most of the perverts in the area are martial artists. Do you think maybe you could help us? It would really level the playing field if we had a martial artist on our side also."

"I-I don't know. I don't think I'll be sticking around town for too much longer."

"Please?"

Before the girl knew it, she was surrounded by all of the other girls, each with a pathetic puppy-dog look in their eyes, hoping to convince her to join up with them. Shaking her head, the girl conceded, "Fine. I can't stand seeing other girls looking so pitiful."

"That's great!" exclaimed Miyabi. She grabbed the new girl's hand and started shaking it eagerly. "Glad to have you on board! By the way, what's your name?"

"You can call me Summer."

-

Dreamweaver Studios Presents

Ranma½

And the Beat Goes On

"Training Day"

-

'Closed'.

It seemed this sign hung over the door of Ucchan's Okonomiyaki all the time these days. In fact, by his count, it's been around three days and the closed sign had been their unchanged in all that time. The only people he had seen going anywhere near the restaurant were potential patrons who always ended up turning away, disappointed.

To say Tsubasa was concerned would have been an understatement. How in the world could he be a guardian angel if the person he was protecting wasn't going to stay still? After all, Ukyou still had that crazy ninja-girl chasing after her. He was there at the Kuno estate, disguised as the liquor cabinet, watching Ukyou and the others fighting Haruna. That ninja-girl was incredibly strong. If she managed to get a hold of his beloved while he wasn't around to protect her, not doubt it would end ugly.

Disguised as a fire hydrant, Tsubasa sat directly in front of Ucchan's entrance starring at the 'closed' sign with all sorts of wild thoughts running through his mind. What if it was already too late? What if the ninja-girl had gotten a hold of Ukyou and finished her off already? Tsubasa was about to go into full panic mode when he was distracted by a thump, and a large weight that had been added to the top of his disguise.

"Hmm, this is strange...what in the world is this fire hydrant doing in the middle of the walkway?" inquired a voice.

It must've been one of those other stupid martial artists. They had a bad habit of jumping all over the place and landing on the first thing...or sometimes the first person they see. At least this one was a female, so the added weight wasn't too unbearable. But still, they had to leave. Opening a small door at the front of his disguise, Tsubasa popped his head out to get a good view of the top. Perched on the top of his hydrant disguise was the ninja-girl who had him so worried, Spring. "AAAAAH!"

"AAAAAH!" Spring responded in kind, seeing the strange fire hydrant suddenly growing a head. She jumped back a few feet and got into a ready position while Tsubasa turned around to face her properly. "W-who...or what are you???" asked the Amazon.

"The name's Tsubasa Kurenai! And you're the crazy ninja girl that's been attacking Ukyou!"

Spring tilted her head to the side, confused. "What in the world do you know about that? Don't...don't tell me you want Ryouga for yourself too, do you?"

Tsubasa facefaulted. "OF COURSE NOT!!! I'm not interested in that muscle-headed fool! I'm interested in Ukyou!"

Spring's confusion deepened. "But...but you're a girl."

"No I'm not." He could see the girl's confusion was growing further. He popped his arms out of the sides of the hydrant and motioned to his appearance for emphasis. "Hello! Master of disguise here!"

"Oh...okay. Well, answer my question. How is it you'd know about me and Ukyou?"

"I've seen you try to attack Ukyou before. So far I've been able to stop you every step of the way...but it looks like I was too late this time. So what are you doing here? Returning to the scene of the crime?"

"I'm here because Ukyou and I have a fight in a couple of days. I came by to spy on her; see what her training regime looked like so I could pick up some pointers on her fighting style and get a leg up on her." She walked up to the restaurant door and thumped the 'closed' sign. "From the looks of things, she decided to do some out of town training." She turned back to Tsubasa, "I'm curious, though...how in the world could you have stopped me from getting her before?"

Tsubasa smiled. "You remember the sushi, right?" Spring blinked. "Or maybe the dog?"

"THAT WAS YOU???" She grabbed the hydrant and hefted Tsubasa up. "If you're so interested in Ukyou, why in the world are you keeping me from being with Ryouga???"

This time, Tsubasa blinked. "What are you talking about? I could care less who Ryouga ends up with. Just as long as he ends up as far away form Ukyou as possible!"

"Well, we want the same thing then! I'm trying to get Ukyou out of the way so that I can have Ryouga for myself!"

"You're trying to kill Ukyou! As long as you keep trying, I'm going to do whatever I can to stop you!"

With a sigh, Spring put the man dressed as a woman dressed as a fire hydrant down. "Okay...what if I promise not to kill her, then? It would be perfectly within the rules if I just beat her in our fight. Once that happens, Ryouga will be all mine and Ukyou will be yours. What do you say?"

Tsubasa was taken aback. It turns out the one he had perceived as an enemy was an ally the whole time. But could he allow Ukyou to come to harm just so he could finally get to be with- "You got a deal!"

"Glad we could come to an agreement. Now, if you will excuse me!" As most martial artists did in that city, after stating her parting words, Spring leapt onto the roof of the nearest building and hopped away.

This was an opportunity of a lifetime. This was Tsubasa's greatest chance to win Ukyou and the best part was, he didn't have to deal with any martial artists himself. And afterwards, he could work his way into Ukyou's good graces by nursing her back to health after the fight...would be the perfect opportunity to wear that cute nurse's outfit he picked up. But there was still a part in the back of his mind that didn't want to see the okonomiyaki chef to come to harm at all. That part wouldn't be able to look her in the eye without being racked with guilt. There had to be some way to still protect Ukyou, while allowing Spring to win in that duel.

After scratching his chin for a second, Tsubasa smiled. There was a way. It would be a bit underhanded, but then to get happily ever after, what was a little underhandedness? After cackling evilly, which sounded like a schoolgirl giggle, he bounced away to get some materials.

----+----+----+----+----

"There we are. Camp's all set." As they have been known to do every now and then, the Saotomes, along with Akane, had set forth deep into the Japanese wilderness in order to undergo especially rigorous training. As Genma has said numerous times, the life of a martial artist is one fraught with peril. It is that peril, he believes, that can add to the rigor of training and make the lessons more likely to stick. Plus, without the distractions of modern life, there's nothing else for one to do except concentrate on training. After completing his task of setting up the tents, Genma stretched out his arms, inhaling and exhaling deeply. "Aaah, just smell that fresh air! There's nothing else like it. It's sure been a long time since we've been out on a training trip like this."

Finishing up his duties in getting the camp set up, Ranma stood straight and looked up at the towering trees. "It sure has. Even though I've come to like staying in a house, I gotta admit, I kinda miss being on the road like this."

"I think staying in that house all the time has made us soft, my boy," said Genma. "We need to get out like this a lot more to keep our skills sharp."

Ranma crossed his arms. "It might have made YOU soft. All the crap I go through on a daily basis helps keep my skills sharp."

"Hey you two," interrupted Akane, carrying a handful of sticks for firewood. She walked to the center of the camp and let the pile of wood fall to the ground. "I'm hoping this can be a constructive training trip. I'd like to learn something useful for the next time I'm in a jam. I don't want to waste all our time with pointless bickering."

Ranma was going to say something in protest, but was once again interrupted...this time, by his grumbling stomach. "Good thing for you I'm too hungry to argue. I don't think we've eaten anything since we left the house."

Putting her hands on her own stomach, Akane nodded, "You're right. It has been a while since we last ate. I suppose training can wait a while. I'll go ahead and cook something."

"NOOO!" yelled father and son.

"Er...look Akane, there's no need to waste any daylight," recovered Genma.

"Or for anyone to get sick so soon," added Ranma.

After giving his son a smack upside the head, Genma continued, "We should go ahead and start training right away. The boy can handle the cooking." He took the pack with their cooking supplies and shoved it into Ranma's hands. "Here boy! Handle the cooking!"

"Alright, alright! Sheesh!" went Ranma.

Akane wasn't sure whether she should be upset at the exchange, or excited that the thought of learning something new. She decided she'd concentrate on the training. She could always talk to them about their reaction later. "Alright then, where do we begin?"

The elder Saotome adjusted his glasses, "I've been giving that a lot of thought. With everything that has happened recently, I was reminded of some techniques I developed a long time ago. When your father was freed from servitude, I was suspicious over the fact that he and Mariko had fallen in love. I thought maybe she was manipulating him somehow. Just in case I turned out to be right and needed to come to Tendo's aid, I perfected a series of moves that would help me to combat powerful demons like her. It was along the same line as the techniques Tendo used when Arame attacked the house."

"I see," went Akane, becoming really interested in where things were going.

"Of course, after I found out that their feelings were genuine, I locked those techniques away for good. They take a dreadful toll on the human body. Of course, since you are half-demon yourself, Akane, you should be able to do them without the consequences. First, I need to know...why the sudden fervor to get trained? You've always seemed confident in your skills, even before you found out about your other side."

With a heavy sigh, Akane cast her gaze downward. "I...I wanted to help Ranma escape when Mrs. Kuno caught him and almost married him off. I was hoping I could do that for him like he's always done for me, but I just couldn't do it. She always found a way to use my moves...my strength against me. No matter what I tried, I just couldn't beat her. I have to get better. I don't want to be cowering in the background anymore when something happens. I want to be standing by his side and able to hold my own no matter what may come."

Genma smiled broadly, unable to mask the pride he felt for his soon-to-be daughter-in-law. Ranma couldn't help but smile himself as he started the fire under the pot. "You've certainly got your heart in the right place, Akane," said Genma. "Now we'll get you the move to go along with it. Now, as far as your last opponent went, that's one thing you have to look out for in the future. There are many forms of martial arts that focus on using your opponent's attacks against them. Those styles are especially vital when the fighters don't have much strength themselves. But even those styles have weaknesses that can be exploited."

"How?"

"Distraction and deception. If you can force them to lose their concentration, then they will be defenseless to your attacks. That's the basis for the first move I have in mind for you. The Piercing Valkyrie Shriek."

"The Piercing Valkyrie Shriek?" repeated Akane.

"...Why do I get the feeling something stupid is about to happen?" Ranma wondered out loud.

"The first thing you need to do is build up your energy," instructed Genma. With his hands starting down by the calves of his legs, he slowly brought them up chest level, taking a deep breath as he did so. As he let out the breath, he dropped his arms slightly, pumping out his fists. Akane followed suit, mimicking his movements.

"After you've gathered sufficient energy," he continued, "you get yourself into position to properly use the move." Rolling up on balls of his feet, he slid the right foot back, adjusting his body accordingly using the back foot to support his weight. To finish the position, he drew his right arm back, curling his hand into a fist. Once again, Akane followed suit.

"Now, you're in the perfect position to strike!" Shifting his weight to his left forward foot, Genma thrust out his right hand with all the force he could muster with his index finger pointed outward and he screamed at the top of his lungs, "LOOK OUT! THERE'S A SPIDER ON YOUR SHOULDER!!!"

Akane facefaulted. "That...that was it?"

"Well, there are a lot of variations that could be used in the Piercing Valkyrie Shriek," Genma said. "There's the classic 'your shoelace is untied' line, but it's much more effective the way I stated it because people usually are afraid of bugs...especially spiders."

Standing up, Akane growled and her eyebrow began to twitch. Suddenly, she thrust out her hand, pointing behind her future father-in-law and screamed, "HEY LOOK! ISN'T THAT MRS. SAOTOME??"

"WHAT? WHERE???" went Genma trying to spot his wife, hoping to get away before she spotted him.

-WHAM!-

"Well, what do you know? It really works," Akane said to herself as she watched the elder Saotome disappear into the clear blue sky.

"Yep," Ranma said as he stirred the pot with their dinner brewing. "That was pretty stupid..."

----+----+----+----+----

"Hey, hon...what exactly is the purpose of this exercise again?"

In another wooded area, another camp was set up by another couple from the Nerima district off on a training trip. With a huge duel looming in the near future with a powerful opponent, Ukyou decided she needed to improve her fighting ability which has pretty much become stagnant since she arrived in Nerima hunting for Ranma and Genma. She had asked Ryouga to help her learn some new things, especially the 'iron cloth' technique he used in the past. With the Amazon ninja's challenge, they both figured now would be the best time for him to finally instruct her.

Not long after Spring's last visit, the two left Ukyou's restaurant to head into the wilderness to train. After wandering around town for a few hours, Ukyou decided to take the lead in the journey and the two actually found their way into the wilderness not long after. With the camp set up, dinner started and a kettle of hot water on standby just in case, Ryouga wasted no time and started Ukyou on her first lessons. Currently, she was sitting cross-legged on a blanket with her hands outstretched in front of her.

"The purpose of this exercise is ki control," said Ryouga. "I've seen you draw out your ki when you're angry, but you need to be able to actually use it afterwards. Now, when you bring your ki out, you have to push it down into your hands." As an example, he did the beginning sequence of the Shi Shi Houkodan. Since he wasn't in that bad a mood, when he held his hands out in front of him, the ball of energy he held in his hands was rather small. "When you're able to create a ball like this and sustain it, then the exercise will be finished."

"Look sugar, I'm very impressed with how you and Ranchan are able to toss those fireballs or whatever when you fight, but I don't have the kind of time it takes to learn those skills. What does this have to do with the iron cloth technique?"

"Everything. It's the ki that's infused into the cloth that makes it stiff and sharp as steel. You have to be able to manipulate your ki at will to be able to make the cloth do what you want." Giving her another example, he took off his belt and snapped it forward causing it to go rigid. "The concept is the same, the only difference is what you do with it after you've collected your ki. Once your ki has been collected, there are a lot of things you can do with them."

"So...what you're saying is when I'm able to control my ki, I'd be able to do more with it than just shoot fireballs, or turn clothes onto razor blades?"

"Sure," went Ryouga with a nod. "It's part of how I'm able to see the breaking points on rocks and stuff. In fact, I heard about a guy in the States who's able to infuse his natural energies into playing cards and use them as bombs. It may not be exactly the same thing, but there's no reason why we shouldn't be able to do something similar..." As he spoke, something clicked in Ryouga's mind. He picked up a rock off the ground and scratched his chin.

While the wheels were turning in Ryouga's head, Ukyou began to concentrate, trying to pull her ki down into her hands. This wasn't the first time she had tried to focus her ki into something that could be used as weapons before. She had seen Ranma and Ryouga do these sorts of things all the time. After she helped Ranma with learning the Dragon's Blast of Heaven from Cologne, she decided to give ki based attacks a try herself with little results. They all made those types of attacks look so easy; she had no idea that even getting a little spark between her hands could've been so difficult.

Not long after, she abandoned any thought of using ki based attacks, deciding to stick to the fighting style that she knew. Maybe with someone who knew how to use those types of attacks tutoring her, she'll be able to succeed where she couldn't on her own. She certainly hoped so. Of course, it would be a lot easier for her to concentrate on her training if it weren't for that noise. "Do you hear that?" inquired Ukyou.

"Huh?"

"Just listen..."

Ryouga dropped the rock and listened to his surroundings. At first, all he could hear was the wildlife of the forest around them. It didn't take long for him, however, to hear for himself what caught his companion's attention. "Yeah, I do hear that...and it's getting louder..."

"...aaaaaaaaAAAAAAAAAAH!"

-SPLASH!-

The young couple blinked incredulously. The voice did seem very familiar, but it couldn't have been who they thought it was given their location. But sure enough, trudging out of the forest into their campsite came Genma Saotome in his panda form soaked from head to toe. No doubt, he fell into the river that was a few meters away from their campsite. At seeing the familiar teens, the elder Saotome pulled a sign out of panda-space that read, "Excuse me, but could I trouble you for some hot water?"

----+----+----+----+----

After nearly an hour of trudging through the forest, Genma made it back to his own campsite. It was quite a coincidence that Ukyou and Ryouga were out on a training trip also; it a happy coincidence to be sure, because of the easy access to hot water. Checking his own camp, he found his son and future daughter-in-law sitting on either side of the campfire, eating.

"Well, look who finally came back," quipped Ranma.

"Feh...here I am trying my best to help...to impart my wisdom to someone who is practically family. And this is the thanks I get?" went Genma, dramatically. "Oh, how cruel fate can be!"

"It's your own fault, Mr. Saotome," said Akane. "The way you were talking this up, I was thinking you were serious about training me. If all you were going to show me were stupid moves like that, then we should probably head back home now. It'd just be a waste of time."

"'Waste of time'? Not one of my moves is a waste! Each one of them can be applied in battle, as well as in life!"

"Maybe if you do that Piercing Valkyrie Shriek thing, you'll be able to convince her otherwise," went Ranma. "Or is it call the Howl of the Demon Dog for guys?"

"I don't think I'd change my mind even if he did the Crouch of the Wild Tiger," added Akane.

"I won't have to!" exclaimed Genma. In a fit of anger, he thrust his right hand forward, open palmed shooting out a ball of energy that whizzed between the sitting couple, who fell backwards in shock at the surprise attack. The ball of energy hit a tree a few feet away from the camp, causing an explosion bigger than one would've thought possible by the small size of the ball in question. The damage was so great, the massive tree toppled over. A black fire burned the remaining stump still planted into the ground. Genma looked at the teens and smirked, "Still think my moves are a 'waste'?"

"Wha...what in the world was THAT?" asked Ranma, still startled.

"I told you I came up with an arsenal of moves just for fighting Akane's mother if I needed to. I call that one the Ebon Blaze. Of course I only used it at a fraction of its potential, since a move like that would leave me drained if I put any real force behind it."

Slack jawed, Akane stared at the stump of the once impressive tree that continued to burn with the black fire. "M...Mr. Saotome, can you teach me how to do that?"

"Heh...suddenly, my moves aren't such a waste anymore, huh?" Genma said with a grin. "Alright then. Let's get started."

----+----+----+----+----

All too quickly, the sun made its trek across the clear blue sky. Even in the face of the quickly oncoming night, Ukyou remained where she had been for the majority of that day, sitting cross-legged with her hands outstretched in front of her. One would think that remaining in such a simple position wouldn't take much effort; especially for a martial artist with an enhanced constitution such as her. But after so many hours of trying to push her ki into her hands, she was exhausted.

After a yawn, Ukyou returned to concentrating on the task at hand. She was determined to summon her ki before she went to sleep. There wasn't much time left until her fight with Spring, so she had to use as much time as she could before then to train. Spring was a powerhouse, she saw that much already. Ukyou would need every advantage she could get if she was to stand a chance.

"I can do this," she said to herself. "I've gone through intensive training before. And this time, I have someone helping me. I know I can..."

Despite her trying to cheer herself on, her head began to droop. Her eyelids began to close, as if their weight had increased so much that she couldn't keep them up anymore. Similarly, her arms began to drop slowly. It had been such a long trip, she must've been more tired than she realized. It probably was a mistake for her to insist Ryouga start training her so soon. Maybe taking a little nap right now wouldn't be so bad. She could start fresh first thing in the morning.

As she drifted off, a vision of Spring entered into her mind. The ninja was standing over Ukyou's prone body with a satisfied smirk on her face and her arms draped around Ryouga's neck. "Looks like I win," said the dream Spring. "But I suppose it's no surprise. While you were napping, I was willing to train under the harshest conditions and do whatever it took to get to where I am now. It's clear I just wanted it more. C'mon babe! Let's go have some fun!" She started walking off, dragging dream Ryouga with her by the arm.

Dream Ryouga turned around at looked at her, "Why?"

Suddenly, Ukyou's eyes snapped open and her head popped up. "NO!" Quickly, her eyes darted left and right. After making sure she was still in the forest and that her previous memory was only a dream, she growled and lifted her hands in front of her again. "She's right. There's no way I'll be able to beat her if I can't even beat back my own fatigue for a little while. She had to have gone through very intensive training to get as strong as she is. I HAVE to do the same if I'm going to beat her."

With every word she spoke, her anger grew. Correspondingly, as her anger grew, so did her aura, which increased from a dim flicker to a bright flare. "And I WILL beat her! There's no way I'm going to let her take Ry...take away my pride as a woman and a martial artist!"

Wearily Ryouga stepped out of his tent to see what the commotion was about. He checked around the campsite for anything out of the ordinary; perhaps it was another Nerima native that literally dropped by. This time, however, no one was there besides he and Ukyou. Turning his attention to his friend, he noticed she was very intent in her training.. He suggested that they call it a night and pick up the training in the morning, but she wouldn't have any of it.

He figured she would've been tired from the long trip into the forest and that she would probably have fallen asleep where she sat. Going by the glow enveloping her body, however, it appeared he was mistaken. But there was something else going on with her that caught his attention. In between her hands was a spark that shone brighter than her aura. Whatever was fueling her intense emotions seemed to be doing the job. She was close to achieving that first step needed.

The bandana clad martial artist stood watching in wonder as the spark grew and began taking proper shape. Ryouga began to smile and pumped his fist. She was just a hair's breath away from nailing the first part of her training. "Come on, just a little bit more!"

Inwardly, Ukyou growled as Spring's face kept popping up in her mind, taunting her. MOCKING her. She recalled the first time they met, ruining what could've been a very pleasant moment, spouting off nonsense about engagements and Amazon law. It was bad enough she was horning in on Ukyou's territory, but she was also so doggone powerful. Worse yet, she knew how strong she was. That was why she kept throwing those insults and flaunting herself. The more she thought about it, the angrier it made her.

"YES," shouted Ryouga. After all the hard work and long hours, she had done it. She had channeled her ki properly through her hands creating a stable sphere of energy in her hands. While it couldn't compare to anything he could generate himself, with how she was going to apply it, the actual strength of the ki didn't matter. "Great job Ukyou! You did it! Now, you're ready to move on to step two!"

It seemed, however, Ukyou was unable to hear what her tenant and, for the time being, teacher had to say. She was still lost in her thoughts of Spring. Her disgust for the girl continued increasing and as it did so, so did the size of the ball of energy she held in her hands.

"Er...hey, Ukyou," went Ryouga. "You did it. You don't have to keep going..."

Ukyou bared her teeth, hissing at Dream Spring. The Amazon's voice kept ringing in her head "I just wanted it more."

"Ukyou!!! That's enough! You shouldn't be trying anything of this magnitude yet!" Ryouga said, backing away from the chestnut haired chef.

Suddenly, the girl sprang to her feet and shouted at the top of her lungs, "I REFUSE TO LOSE TO YOU! DO YOU HEAR THAT SPRING? I WILL NOT LOSE TO YOU!!!!!"

-Ka-THOOM!!!-

Now extra crispy thanks to the ball of energy that exploded in her face, Ukyou rubbed the back of her head and laughed sheepishly to Ryouga, who was in no better condition. "I guess I overdid it, huh?"

Ryouga coughed in response, "Just a smidge..."

----+----+----+----+----

----+----+----+----+----


	11. Spring Forward

So many things have happened lately...so many things that have dominated her mind as of late. With everything that happened with the recent appearance of her mother, Kodachi Kuno needed time to clear her head. At times like this, she usually retreated to the confines of her arboretum. None of the other members of the Kuno household dared to set foot inside. After all, they never had any idea what she was cooking up in there. And more to the point, they were always afraid she would test out whatever it was she was cooking up on them.

Because of this, it was always peaceful there, and every so often, Kodachi would just sit, staring at all of the beautiful plants inside, and think. After any dealing with Kodachi, it would be very easy for one to dismiss her as a loony, psychotic, crazy girl. While she does have her eccentricities that tend to put other people on edge, if one were to dig deeper, they would find a very competent botanist and chemist. In the center of the arboretum was a lab desk where she worked on extracting and processing plant toxins in order to create the paralysis powders she used frequently. Besides which, she wasn't crazy; she was merely driven to achieve a much desired goal and vowed to use any means necessary to do so. If outsiders thought her to be crazy, then that was their problem.

Fingering the petals of her namesake that leaned close by, the black rose pondered what might have been. The last time she handled a black rose was during the failed wedding where she carried a bouquet of them. She had thought about that wedding in these days since it passed. Most pointedly, the free-for-all afterwards when her life was saved.

One particular moment kept replaying in her mind. The moment when she and her 'husband-to-be' were buried under all of the rubble. The moment when he bore the brunt of that mountainous load to keep her safe from harm. The moment when she really SAW him for the first time. She had been so enamored with Ranma that she had become blind to all of the other possibilities the town had to offer. The marriage her mother tried to force on her was a failure, but in the end, her mother may have had the last laugh after all.

Her mother may have been right the whole time.

Since then, she hadn't been able to get Ryouga Hibiki out of her head. He had demonstrated the fact that he was a powerful man already. But he was also so kind and reassuring to her while they were buried. It was a quality that she found lacking in most people. But where did that leave her first love, Ranma? Surely, he remained the prize of all prizes; she could just let him go at the first sign of a second perfect match. Decisions, decisions.

-Clank-

Kodachi turned, startled by the sound of her glass beakers making contact with each other. While she didn't see anyone present, she did notice some of the plants were rustling, as if someone had just brushed passed them. She called out, "Brother, dear? Is that you?" There was no response. Standing from the stool in front of the table, she started cautiously towards the entryway as the plants heading towards the front door. "Brother? Sasuke? If this is your idea of a joke, it is not funny! I demand you show yourself this instant!"

Suddenly, what appeared to be an emergency phone box popped out of the plants and landed into the clearing between the table and the front door. After appearing to take a quick glance at the gymnast, it spun around and bolted outside.

Blinking, Kodachi sat back down and started fiddling with the rose petals again. She couldn't have seen what she just saw. Maybe those outsiders who considered her crazy were on to something after all? Looking at her chemistry set, though, there was one unquestionable fact that had presented itself...a vial of paralysis power that she had made before her mother's appearance was missing...

-

Dreamweaver Studios Presents

Ranma½

And the Beat Goes On

"Spring Forward"

-

The time of the duel had finally come. Seemed like those five days came and went like they were five hours. In the center of the park, Ukyou Kuonji stood, tapping her foot impatiently for her Amazon challenger to appear. Nerima Central Park was picked for the duel because the grounds of Furinkan had been decimated by the battle between Ryouga and Hayate Kurogane. While the fence and gate had been repaired, there were still little things that the public works commission, N-MARC needed to show attention to.

Looking around, though, it seemed the park had seen better days itself. Apparently, with the same idea in mind, Mousse and Ranma had a fight in the park as well. The concrete walkways looked fresh, as did some of the park benches. But all of the playground activity sets were still missing, including the monkey bars Hayate tied her to when he abducted her.

Growing impatient waiting, Ukyou began to pace. The last time she was in a duel like this was when she challenged Ranma and Genma when she first arrived. Despite the feelings she had for the two men at the time, she had to acknowledge that they were punctual. It was bad form to keep an opponent waiting, especially when you were the one handing down the challenge. She had been out in the park waiting for a good twenty minutes and, so far, Spring had been a no-show.

"Hey, Ucchan, you aren't getting nervous, are ya?" Ukyou turned to her cheering section sitting on a blanket a few meters away under a tree. Not long after they got back to Nerima, Ukyou and Ryouga found out that Ranma, Genma and Akane had all been out in the same area on a training trip as well, which accounted for Genma's dropping by their camp site unannounced. Once they heard about the duel between the chef and the ninja, Ranma and Akane insisted on being on the sidelines to watch how this latest rivalry played out. They, along with Ryouga were present, waiting with her for the battle to begin.

"Nervous?" Ukyou repeated back to Ranma. "Not a chance! I've been looking forward to getting my hands on that hussy for a long time now! I'm going to enjoy kicking her ass up and down this park...if she'll ever get here!"

"She's probably just doing this to play with your head," said Ryouga.

Ukyou snorted, "She can play all the mind games she wants. We'll see how far they'll go when I pop that stupid little head off her shoulders and use it as a soccer ball!"

"It ain't good to go into a fight riled up like that," Ranma suggested. "Ya gotta calm down."

"Calm down? What do you mean? I AM calm! DON'T YOU SEE HOW CALM I AM???" Ukyou growled with her eye twitching.

"Oh yeah! Perfectly," said Ranma, begging off.

"Cool as a cucumber," said Ryouga, doing the same.

"Wow...never thought anyone could get to Ukyou this much," mused Akane.

"I can understand why, though," went Ryouga. "Spring's been getting under her skin for quite some time now. When we were all at the Kunos, she nearly had Ukyou frothing at the mouth."

"It ain't good for her to be this upset already," Ranma said. "If she stays this angry when the fight starts, she's done for. Anger clouds the mind. It can cause even the strongest fighters to flail around like idiots." He nudged Ryouga in the ribs and grinned, "Ya know what I'm talkin' about, right?"

Ryouga raised an eyebrow, "And what, exactly is that supposed to mean?"

"I see you made it!" Ukyou spun back to the entrance of the park upon hearing the disembodied voice. She darted her eyes back and forth to see where the annoying kunoichi would be coming at her from. Directly in the path ahead of the okonomiyaki chef, Spring appeared in a puff of smoke. "I hope I didn't make you wait too long," she said sweetly.

Ukyou's eye twitched again. She was really starting to hate that sugary nonsense Spring liked to use on people. With another growl, she pulled her mega spatula from its resting place behind her back and brought it to fore.

On Spring's part, even though she had a smile on her face, goading Ukyou into anger, inside, she was all business herself. She knew this was the last opportunity she would have to claim her prize. There had to be no mistakes this time. She had hoped to catch Ukyou's training regimen so she could pick up a few tips on the chef's fighting style. Unfortunately, it seemed she decided to train out of town. It would've been too much trouble for Spring to go through the trouble of tracking her. It would've left her tired and Ukyou already had an edge, as she got to see her fight when she confronted that Kuno woman. She had to retain every edge she could.

Ukyou tightened her grip on her battle spatula, "I'm really gonna enjoy slapping that stupid smile off your face."

"Please. Clumsy, uncoordinated cows like you couldn't even come close to touching my face!"

"We'll see about that!" Ukyou grabbed a handful of mini spatulas from the bandolier draped across her chest and threw them at the ninja girl. With a quick hop backwards, Spring was able to dodge all of the projectiles, allowing each to land, lodging themselves into the new concrete, harmlessly. Spring looked towards Ukyou to gloat over what appeared to be a rather weak attack to start with, but, instead, was shocked to see the okonomiyaki chef right in her face, with the huge spatula reared over her head. "TAKE THIS!!!"

With all the force she could muster, Ukyou brought her spatula down in a slicing move, chopping her opponent in half from the top of her head down. With a sadistic grin, Ukyou said, "Looks like it's over already." Suddenly, Spring disappeared in a puff of smoke, replaced with a wooden dummy wearing her ninja gi. "What???"

As if from thin air, Spring appeared behind Ukyou and struck with a kick in the girl's back that sent her tumbling forward face first into the ground. Ignoring the pain, Ukyou quickly rolled out of the way to avoid a stomp to the back. With renewed footing, she went back to the offensive, wildly swinging her spatula to answer the ninja's successful attack. Unfortunately for her, Spring was easily able to dodge every strike. To add insult to the figurative and literal injury, the Amazon feigned a yawn while doing so.

"You think you're being funny, huh?" Ukyou raged. "Laugh at this! FLOUR BOMB!" She grabbed a sack of her flour laced with explosive powder and threw it at Spring. This time, using the patented martial arts super jump, she leapt to safety just as the sack made contact with the ground and exploded. Taking a page out of Spring's playbook, Ukyou managed to take the leap herself and ended up behind the ninja. However, Spring sensed the back attack. Rolling in mid air, she intercepted Ukyou's attempted swipe with the spatula, stopping the huge cooking utensil with the bottom of her feet.

Using the spatula as a springboard, the Amazon kunoichi shot herself back down to ground level where she landed on her hands and nimbly flipping back to her feet unscathed. The move also managed to knock Ukyou off balance, but she was able to recapture her bearings just in the nick of time to land properly herself instead of with an unceremonious splat.

"Say," started Spring. "Just let me know when you're finished warming up, so I'll know when to start taking you seriously."

"Damn it! I'll get you this time!" roared Ukyou, as she launched herself at Spring again.

----+----

On the sidelines, Akane's mood was getting progressively worse. Watching how the fight was progressing so far was stirring some unpleasant memories. Noticing the change in his finacee's demeanor, Ranma put a hand on her shoulder. "Hey, what's wrong?" he asked.

"Spring's just playing around with her at this point," Akane explained. "Ukyou can't seem to lay a finger on her. It's just like the fight I had with Mrs. Kuno."

"I know. Ukyou doesn't appear to be doing too well," Mousse added. The couple angrily in love and the lost boy all jumped, surprised to find Mousse and Autumn were both sitting under the tree with them.

"What the...Where in the world did you come from?" Ranma asked.

"Don't tell me you learned to appear and disappear in puffs of smoke too?" Ryouga added to the inquiry.

Shaking his head, Mouse said, "No. Autumn and I walked into the park and sat down next to you not long after the fight started. You were just so focused on it that you didn't notice us."

"You could've said something, though," said Ranma.

Mousse shrugged, "I just did."

"Anyway," interrupted Ryouga, "he's right about Ukyou not doing well. Spring's been getting under he skin for a long time now. Ukyou's so mad right now, she probably can't even see straight and it's taking her off her game plan. She hasn't even tried any of the moves she picked up in training yet."

"Don't sound too upset," reassured Autumn. "I know my sister can be a handful, but I'm sure you'll enjoy being married to her." She paused and gave Ryouga a good looking over. "I have to admit, you are pretty cute when you're not threatening to blow everyone up in a suicidal rage. Maybe after you join the family and we get to know each other, we could become close also."

"Say wha...?" Ryouga looked to Mousse, who simply turned away in embarrassment. Right then, Ryouga noticed something out of the ordinary. He patted Ranma on the arm, "Say, do you see that?"

Ranma looked in the direction indicated. "What? I don't see anything."

"Are you sure?" Ryouga pressed. "Mousse did have a point. We were so focused on the fight; we haven't been paying much attention to our surroundings. Take a good look again and tell me if something doesn't seem out of place."

With a sigh, Ranma took a look at the section of the park again that Ryouga pointed out. The main concrete walkway started at the mouth of the park. A fourth of the way in it becomes a huge circular area where stages could be set up to host plays or concerts. At the moment, of course, it was where Ukyou and Spring were having their duel. From there, the main walkway continued its way to the back of the park. Several side paths split off from the main walkway to other areas of the park.

The area where Ryouga pointed to was where the kids playground used to be before Ranma and Mousse had their fight. It was pretty messed up afterwards and none of the play sets survived. Looking at the area now, though, N-MARC appeared to have made great strides in rebuilding the area. A park bench that was set in front of the playground had already been replaced, along with one of the toys; a yellow duck perched on a huge coil that children could bounce on.

Ranma blinked, "Hey...I see what you mean now. None of the kid stuff was left after my fight with Mousse. That duck thing wasn't there before."

"Exactly," Ryouga said with a nod. "You thinking what I'm thinking?"

"Tsubasa again?"

"Yeah."

"Er, sorry for butting in and being thoroughly confused," interjected Mousse, "but, what exactly is going on? Who's Tsubasa?"

"Oh yeah," Ranma said. "You've never had a run in with Tsubasa before, have you? Tsubasa's this strange guy that's head over heels for Ukyou. She doesn't feel the same way about him, though."

"I know how that goes," sighed Mousse.

"Even though he's not a very strong fighter, he is a master of disguise," Ranma continued. "In fact, most of the time with the way he dresses, acts and talks, you'd think he was a girl. But he's able to mimic just about anything perfectly...vending machines, trashcans, trees...or playground toys in this case."

"The disguises themselves can make Tsubasa dangerous, though," added Ryouga. "He thought Ukyou and I were a couple one time, so he challenged me to a fight. He was disguised as a mailbox that turned into a giant robot. I'm guessing that when you were engaged to Ukyou, Tsubasa had it out for you too. Did he challenge you as well?"

Oh yeah. Tsubasa challenged his girl side to see which one boys found more attractive. Looking back, it was pretty a pretty embarrassing situation...more embarrassing was the fact that Ranma didn't fare too well in the challenge. "I'd rather not say..."

Autumn stepped in, "I'm guessing since this Tsubasa person has feelings for Ukyou, he might try to get involved somehow?"

"It's a possibility," said Ryouga with a shrug. "We'll just have to keep an eye on him."

"I intend do," went Autumn, glaring at the playground toy.

----+----

Inside the duck disguise, Tsubasa watched the fight between the ninja girl and his beloved. Today was the day he would finally get what he wanted most...but damned if it wasn't a painful way to get there. As much as he cared for Ukyou and wanted her to succeed in all things, she had to lose that fight if he was to have a chance to have for himself. He tried getting her his own way by putting that Ryouga guy out himself, but not even that huge robot was able to beat him.

How fortuitous it was that Spring had shown up to vie for Ryouga's affections. She seemed more than powerful enough to fight for both of their futures and was all too happy to do so. Her winning that battle meant that Ryouga would have his hands full with other matters; leaving Ukyou under his loving care. He had to ensure that Spring would indeed win, or else everything would, yet again, be for naught.

From the look of things, though, it appeared the kunoichi needed no assistance in winning the fight. She was making Ukyou look like a fool out on the battlefield so far. With the way things were going, it wouldn't be too long before Ukyou tired herself out and collapse from exhaustion. Spring wouldn't even need to do much of anything.

But Tsubasa couldn't put his faith in that. Spring seemed to have it out for Ukyou as evidenced by the previous attempts on Ukyou's life that he thwarted. Spring promised that she wouldn't kill Ukyou in the fight but there was no way to tell if she would live up to her word. And witnessing just how powerful Spring was when she fought that Kuno woman (he followed Spring and Ukyou to the Kuno estate and watched everything as it went down, disguised as the Kunos' liquor cabinet), she could easily kill his beloved anytime she felt. And with how angry Ukyou appeared in that fight, she probably wouldn't stop unless Spring were to kill her.

Fortunately, Tsubasa came well prepared for that. Just in case Ukyou looked like she was going to push herself too far, or just in case the tide of battle shifted and it looked like she was going to win, he was going to use a dart fired from a blowgun to knock her out. The dart contained a paralysis toxin he acquired from that Kodachi Kuno girl. He was going to make sure that, while she lost no matter what, she would also not be seriously harmed.

And, just in case Spring decided she would go back on her word and try to kill Ukyou while she was paralyzed, Tsubasa had another dart just for her. All that was left for him to do was to sit back, watch the fight as it unfolded and wait for his moment.

----+----

It was infuriating! Why couldn't she hit the stupid girl? Ukyou kept swinging her spatula as hard and fast as she could, but Spring kept dancing away from her. And she still had that stupid smile on her face! Her breathing was ragged...she couldn't tell if it was from exhaustion or the fury that fueled her. She was sweating quite a bit, though, so it could well have been the exhaustion. In contrast, though, Spring was barely winded.

Pausing her attack, Ukyou wiped her brow and studied Spring to see if she could find a weakness, any weakness to exploit. The girl seemed as fast as Ranma and most likely had his stamina too. There had to have been something that she could use to slow the kunoichi down to even the odds just a little bit. She was so angry, though, it was difficult for her to even think clearly. Wait a minute...

"What's the matter?" asked Spring. "You finished already? Fine then. I'll go!" With that warning, Spring leapt into action, drawing the blade she kept sheathed behind her back and charging at Ukyou. She swung the short edged sword in quick, but deliberate strokes, aiming for the chef's vital spots. The swings came too quickly and Ukyou couldn't dodge them all. Fortunately, she was able to use her mega spatula to block the ones she wasn't able to dodge. Spring smiled. Her opponent was doing exactly what she wanted.

The Amazon thrust her sword forward to pierce Ukyou's heart, which the chestnut haired martial artist tried to block with the huge spatula. With the feint successful, Spring swung with her free hand and knocked the spatula out of Ukyou's grip. With her weapon out of the way, Spring followed with a spin kick that knocked her opponent for a loop in the opposite direction. "Pitiful," Spring said with a sigh. "This was even less of a challenge than I thought."

Lying face down on the cold concrete, Ukyou wondered how in the world she managed to get in the situation she was in. She was being beaten so easily...Spring was right. She wasn't much of a challenge. The ninja had a game plan from the beginning and it was being played out to perfection. All the insults, the jabs, that condescending smile; everything was set up to make her lose her cool and flail about like a mad woman. It didn't help that she fell for it all so easily.

"She's probably just doing this to play with your head," echoed Ryouga's voice in her head. "It ain't good to go into a fight riled up like that. Ya gotta calm down," went Ranma's voice. She wasn't listening before, but that last kick knocked some sense back into her and their words came in loud and clear. Ukyou was so blind with rage, she couldn't see what was going on before. It was ironic that Spring's blinding speed was what helped to clear her vision. There was a way to slow the ninja girl down and it was vision that would help her do so. Now that she had calmed down and had her head cleared, she could remember her training and her own game plan for the duel...

-Flashback-

-FZZZZ!-

"Geez! Not again!" Tossing the charred piece of fabric to the side, Ukyou grabbed another one. "Hey, Ryouga! I'm getting kind of low. Can you get me some more?"

"Oh...sure." Ryouga walked over to the spot where Ukyou was training, removed ten bandanas from his head and placed them down beside her.

"Don't those things every run out?" Ukyou asked.

"Yes, actually there are limits to how many I can carry at once without it looking too obvious." He walked back to the front of the tent where he was doing some training of his own, working through some details in his head. "I've learned a lot of new techniques since I came to Nerima, so I don't really carry so many anymore, but I knew you'd need some test materials for your training."

"You guessed right. I must've gone through twenty of them already." Ukyou gathered her concentration, focusing her ki into the yellow and black bandana in her hand. As a result, it, just like the previous one, burst into flames. "Aah! Man, I don't understand what I'm doing wrong. I can't seem to infuse just the right amount of ki into the thing. I either put in too little and it stays limp, or I put in too much and it burns up on me."

"Mostly the burn thing."

"Thanks a lot. That's very encouraging," said Ukyou, rolling her eyes. She discarded the burned remnants of the bandana and grabbed another one.

"You're still too upset and it's throwing off the balance of your aura. It takes a certain amount of ki to turn a piece of cloth into a weapon that can slice through other objects. It's a delicate piece of material. I'm sure if you wanted to infuse your ki into something denser, like your spatula, it would work. But with you being as upset as you are, you're flooding the bandanas with your hot ki and it can't handle it."

"You're not exactly the happiest guy around yourself. How is it you're able to manage it?"

Ryouga shrugged, "I've practiced the technique so many times, it's almost instinctive to me, now. So I know when I put in the right amount of ki for the piece of fabric I use." He paused, looking at one of the rocks he had collected for his training. There was a question that been wandering around in his mind for some time now. He hadn't asked it as of yet because he wasn't sure he wanted to know the answer, but his curiosity had a will of its own and had to be satisfied no matter what the rest of wanted. "Say, Ukyou...why does Spring get to you so much?"

Ukyou blinked, "Huh?"

"I mean...er...does the thought of me being with Spring get you that worked up?"

"Er...ah…of course not! I mean, we are just friends after all, right? It's none of my business who you end married to," she answered. She had to turn away so that he wouldn't notice her blush.

"Oh..."

"But I don't like how she treats you like some prize to be won, or some trophy to parade around on her arm," she continued. "It was pretty much how I felt about Shampoo and Ranma when I learned how that whole thing got started. I learned...kind of the hard way...that you are a person and that you need to be treated like one."

At hearing the clarified answer, Ryouga smiled a bit and he nodded. "I think I see what you're saying." It was one of the few times Ukyou remembered him ever smiling a real, genuine smile; even one as small as the one that adorned his features at that moment. She couldn't help but think how much better he looked when he wore one.

Ryouga looked up, sensing that she was still looking. When he did so, and noticing she was staring, Ukyou turned her head and blushed again. "A-and besides," she added, hoping she wasn't caught, "she insulted me far too many times for me to just let it go. This thing between us has gotten personal."

She looked up and to her surprise, found Ryouga standing over her. He knelt down and put a hand on her shoulder, "I understand how you feel. Don't you worry! You'll be ready for her when the time comes. You'll be able to pay her back for those insults."

Moved by his words of encouragement, Ukyou nodded and smiled back at him. "With you helping me, I know I can do it! Just leave it to me, sugar!"

"Hey, look! You're doing it!"

"Huh?" Ukyou went, confused. "Doing what?"

"This!" He held up Ukyou's hand, where she found the bandana she had held onto was standing erect. Ukyou let out an inward sigh of relief. It was a good thing Ryouga didn't seem to have a dirty mind, or else, with her blushing like some love struck fool he may have gotten the wrong idea and said something about symbolism. "Well, try it out and see how it works!"

Ukyou stood to her feet and turned to the tree she had been leaning on for the duration of her training. With one deft swing of the bandana, she was able to slice through its trunk, causing it to tumble over and fall. "Amazing! I can't believe I actually did it!"

"I never had a doubt," said Ryouga with a huge grin. "Now, this will be the most important step in your training. You're going to have to keep that bandana rigid like that for the rest of the day. After which, you'll have to make it rigid again and keep it that way for hour stretches. That way, you'll have it forever burned into your memory exactly how much it takes for you to turn that bandana into a weapon. If you keep doing that until your fight with Spring, it should become second nature to you too."

"Right!" As Ukyou looked at the sharp as steel bandana in her hand, something Ryouga said earlier about her spatula came to mind. "Hmm...I wonder what else I could use this technique on?"

-End Flashback-

Ukyou pushed herself up to her knees and took a deep breath. It was that last question that lead to her discovering all sorts of new techniques she could use in this fight. Sure Spring was faster and stronger than she was, but that wasn't everything. Now that her head wasn't lost in the fog of that intense anger, she could think to put those new techniques to good use.

"Looks like it's time to end this and claim my prize," Spring said, stalking the fallen Ukyou. She brought her sword over her head and smiled again, "Say goodnight!"

-CLANG!-

"Goodnight? Already?" Ukyou taunted. "But this is where things finally start to get interesting!" Spring couldn't believe it. She had brought her sword down to whack Ukyou on the head with the blunt end of it to knock her unconscious, giving her the victory while keeping her promise to that Tsubasa fellow she met a few days ago. But instead of her hitting her mark, Ukyou blocked her strike with the ribbon she used to tie her hair up with. Amazingly, it was fully erect and she was using it as a sword.

Using Spring's surprise to her advantage, Ukyou shoved the her sword out of the way and shot herself up, catching the ninja in the nose with her elbow. With Spring reeling, Ukyou pressed her advantage by landing a hard forward kick to Spring's stomach which sent the Chinese girl crashing to the ground.

On the sidelines, Tsubasa cheered when he saw Ukyou finally mount some offense in the battle, but then caught himself. "Geez, this is so hard," he said to himself. "I want to see her win, but I have to make sure she loses to split her and that Ryouga jerk up!" He shook his head to try and clear his mind. "I can do this. It's just the one time. After we get through this, everything will be just fine!" He took out the blowgun, poked it through the hole in the toy duck's beak and waited for his opportunity to strike.

"Not bad," went Spring. "You got a couple of lucky shots in. It won't happen again, though. You're too slow to catch me and swinging around that huge kitchen utensil only slows you down more."

"You're right," Ukyou conceded. "You are too fast for me. It just means that I'll have to level the playing field a little bit." She reached behind her and retrieved two handfuls of the sacks with the flour in them. Ripping each one open, she dumped their contents onto the ground, causing a huge clouds of the powder to rise into the air. With a smile, Ukyou regarded Spring, "I wonder how your speed will be able to help you when you can't even see your target? Flour Shade!" The clouds of flour continued to fill the air until it turned into a mist that completely enveloped their fighting area.

"Unbelievable!" exclaimed Ranma. "When in the world did Ukyou learn how to do something like that?"

"During our training trip," said Ryouga. "I taught her how to use that iron cloth technique that I used to use. It took her a while to get it, but once she did, she found all sorts of imaginative variants of the technique."

"This was unexpected," Spring said to herself. "This is just like one of the forms of Ninjutsu the instructors at my school would teach to advanced level students. Usually, though, the mist would be regular vapor that the user could melt into. But this...this stuff is so irritating to the eyes that it's just as effective, no matter if she could disappear into it or not!"

"That's right," she heard Ukyou say. Before she could react, Spring felt her opponent's fist bury itself into her stomach, which was followed by an uppercut to her chin that knocked the kunoichi flat on her back yet again.

Sitting upright, the Amazon wiped the trickle of blood off her lip and pondered her situation. "Damn, she's a lot tougher than I gave her credit for," she said to herself. "I should have put her away sooner instead of playing around to get her anymore upset. I had no idea she would have such a high level move in her arsenal. It's impossible to see in this fog...kinda makes it hard to breathe too." Standing to her feet, she sheathed her sword and clasped her hands in front of her. "This is going to take a lot out of me, but I don't have any choice now. MULTI-FORM!"

Ukyou remembered that technique all too well. She couldn't believe her eyes when Spring made two copies of herself to fight Mrs. Kuno. It was bad enough fighting one Spring; fighting two or three would be close to impossible. The really bad part was she had no idea exactly how many copies of herself she could generate. She still had something of an advantage on the situation. Even with her own vision diminished by her Flour Shade, her ki was mixed in with the 'fog', so she could 'see' where Spring and her clones were. In fact...

Reaching out behind her, Ukyou grabbed one of the Spring copies and flipped her over with a hip-toss. "There you are!" said one of the Springs since, unfortunately for Ukyou, as soon as she made contact with one, all of the others knew her exact location. So as soon as Ukyou punched the clone she threw to the ground and it disappeared in a puff of smoke, another was right on top of her. With Ukyou still in her stooped position, that Spring copy caught her with a punting kick to the head, causing her to bounce and roll across the concrete.

Fortunately for Ukyou, when she came to a stop, she was lying right next to her mega spatula that Spring had knocked out of her hand earlier. Unfortunately for her, Spring's attack caused the shade to lift, increasing the visibility on the battlefield. Now, with her advantage gone, Ukyou had to take quick stock of the situation and determine what her next move would be. From the looks of it, the Spring that attacked her was a few meters away, while three more Springs were surrounding them. With the copy she made disappear, that made five. Apparently, it was extraordinarily taxing on her to maintain all of the copies. She had taken quite a bit of damage and with that technique in play, the Amazon looked like she was going to drop at any time.

----+----

Tsubasa watched in earnest as the field of battle came back into view. Ukyou was pretty beat up, but she looked like she still had a lot of fight left in her. That was more than he could say about Spring...any of them. This looked to be the perfect time. With what remained of Ukyou's Flour Shade, their vision would be impaired just enough not to notice him shooting the dart at Ukyou paralyzing her. Shoving the blowgun out of the hole as much as he could, Tsubasa prepared to make his move.

-SLICE!-

In the blink of an eye, the head of the toy duck was cut clean off. Tsubasa's eyes widened, shocked that his latest disguise had been destroyed, and shocked even more that none of his body parts had been sliced off along with it.

"You weren't about to interfere, were you?"

Tsubasa looked up and found a stunning red-haired girl addressing him. What was more attention grabbing than her was the huge blade sticking out of the voluminous sleeve of her robes. "W-who are you?"

"Her name's Autumn," informed Mousse, walking up to them. "That's her sister, Spring, out there fighting."

"We know that you have feelings for Ukyou," said Autumn. "I'm not going to allow you to do whatever it is you're planning to do to Spring so that Ukyou can win."

"What are you talking about?!" Tsubasa shouted. "Why in the world would I want Ukyou to win?"

Autumn and Mousse blinked. "Er...wha?" Mousse articulated.

"I don't want Ukyou to win! As much as it pains me to do it, I have to make sure she loses! If your ninja sister gets her hands on Ryouga, then Ukyou will be free, so that I can move in!"

"Hmm...makes sense," Mousse admitted.

Autumn nodded, "Yeah, I suppose it does."

"So you'll let me do what I have to do?" asked Tsubasa.

"No, I still can't," said Autumn.

"Why not?"

"This is an honorable duel between two warriors with a whole lot depending on the outcome. There are a lot of rules at play here that you have no idea about and your interference would only throw everything into chaos. The only way this can have a clear resolution is if they fight it out and a winner is declared." Autumn turned to Tsubasa and gave him a wink, "Besides, you can rest assured Spring will win. After all, from the look of things, she's about to use her trump card."

----+----

Drawing her sword once again, the middle Spring charged slashing and stabbing as she did so. Ukyou blocked the sword strikes with her spatula, looking out for more feints. She was also trying to keep an eye on all the other copies that surrounded them. They were all making these weird hand signs. She had seen enough of those ninja shows on TV to know that they were cooking up something really bad.

When Spring made a wide arching slashing attack aimed for her head, Ukyou ducked and ran as fast as she could for the closest copy that surrounded them. Hopefully, if she took out one of them, the move would be disrupted. However, before she could get in striking distance, the Spring she was just engaged with appeared in front of her and planted her foot in Ukyou's stomach, knocking her backwards.

"Nice try," said Spring. "But you didn't think I was just going to let you interfere, did you?" As she was speaking, the other three copies of her started to glow. Strands of energy snaked out of the three copies creating a circular energy barrier that surrounded them. "Looks like you're too late anyway. Enjoy defeat!" With that, the version of Spring inside the barrier disappeared in a puff of smoke.

The three remaining Springs leapt into the air, leaving a trail of energy in their wake. Once they got to the top of the energy column, they began to spin clockwise, from Ukyou's perspective. At the same time, the three ninjas extended an arm and fired a beam of energy into the center of the enclosed area.

"Unreal!" shouted Akane over the intense winds that had kicked up due to the energy output from Spring's move.

"Is this her final attack?" Ranma wondered loudly. "I don't see how Ukyou could withstand anything that strong!"

"There may be one thing," Ryouga shouted. "But with that much power being generated, I don't know..."

Ukyou watched, trembling as the swirling energy spun faster and faster. "This must be it," she said to herself. "This must be her all or nothing move. This will determine who wins. I only have one move that could save me now. I just have to put everything I have left in it. Otherwise..."

"You put up a good fight," Spring yelled down to her opponent. "But this is the end! DEATH SPIRAL!!!"

At the verbal command, the massive collection of energy started downward on the trapped okonomiyaki chef. When it impacted with the ground, the energy barrier disappeared, and it erupted in a massive, blinding explosion. The concussive force threw all of the onlookers backwards and caused the trees to sway violently, to the point of breaking. When the light and the winds from the attack ebbed, the concrete circle that served as the battlefield was completely engulfed in smoke.

"That's some trump card!" Mousse said in astonishment.

"I've never seen Spring go all out like this," said Autumn. "This was more than even I expected!"

"Can anyone see?" a frantic Ryouga said. "Is Ukyou alright?"

"We'll know in a second," said Akane. "The smoke is starting to clear."

On the periphery of the impact zone, Spring and her two duplicates were on their knees panting heavily from the huge effort it took to use the attack. Usually, she's able to maintain three clones without too much trouble. The five in total she used was really pushing it. On top of that, the amount of energy she had to use for the attack itself was enormous. It took everything she had left just to stay upright. But it was worth it. Ukyou may have been better than she gave credit for, but there was no way she could've withstood her strongest attack which was the equivalent of three of her Shadow Flares merged into one huge juggernaut.

As the smoke began to clear, her handiwork became evident. The huge circular concrete area where they fought was just a huge crater. Maybe it was overkill, but when it came right down to it, you had to do whatever it took to win, and Ryouga was definitely a prize worth the effort. She smiled as more of the smoke dissipated revealing more of the devastation. Nothing was left. Nothing, that was, except for one little island that appeared to have escaped harm.

"No way...it can't be..." Spring wiped her eyes off, just in case some speck of debris managed to work its way in, making her see things. Unfortunately for her, she wasn't. There was one section of the concrete that survived her attack. And on top of it stood Ukyou with her arm outstretched above her and her mega spatula hovering just above her hand, spinning in place surrounded by a slight glow.

"What the...Ukyou managed to survive that???" went Akane with her jaw hanging open.

"It worked!" exclaimed Ryouga.

"What worked?" inquired Ranma. "What just happened?"

"During our training, she told me about Spring's fight with Mrs. Kuno," Ryouga explained. "Since I was buried for the majority of the fight, I didn't see what she saw. She told me about a powerful attack Spring used called the Shadow Flare. It was a sure bet that she was going to use it in their duel. Ukyou and I knew that, while what she was learning on our training trip could give her an edge using the element of surprise, there was nothing she was learning that could contend with an attack as strong as she described. And there was no way we could come up with an attack to counter it in the short amount of time we had.

"But, like I said before," Ryouga continued, "she came up with a lot of imaginative variants for the move we did train for. Not only did she learn to inject her ki into her ribbon for the iron cloth, or to fuse it with her flour to make her Flour Shade, but she also learned to manipulate her spatulas with her ki as well. One of the things she managed to come up with was a defensive technique where she could use her battle spatula as a shield against ki attacks. She calls it her Sterling Sentinel."

Ukyou drained her ki from the spatula, causing it to stop spinning and drop back into her hand. At that moment, she was as full of adrenaline as she was when the fight began. The move actually worked and it repelled an attack of an enormous magnitude. She grinned like an idiot as the feeling of invincibility washed over her.

"That's impossible!" said Spring, still panting heavily. "There's no way you could have repelled my attack!"

"Sorry, looks like you're wrong about that one," said Ukyou, panting heavily herself, but still grinning. "You were right about one thing, though..." Using the martial artist super jump, rocketed herself towards the Spring clone in front of her. At that point, Spring was too weak to even put her arms up, so there was no defense up when Ukyou brought the business end of her spatula down on the ninja girl's head.

As soon as contact was made, the other two copies of Spring disappeared on puffs of smoke. A split second after, what was clearly the original Spring fell to the ground unconscious. "This is the end," Ukyou said, falling to one knee, totally spent herself. "I won."

----+----+----+----+----

----+----+----+----+----


	12. Unintended Consequences

This was it! Today was the day he would get his revenge!

It had been a while since he prowled the street of Nerima. With all the craziness he had to endure, not to mention that huge battle, he had to take some time off to rest and recuperate. But now, Hayate Kurogane had returned and he was ready to take his next shot at Ryouga Hibiki.

He had to admit he was feeling good. He was in a brand new suit with a brand new umbrella he had just finished crafting. He had been in town for a few hours so far and he had yet to run into any old trolls or any vigilante groups wanting to beat the tar out of anyone they deemed to be a pervert. The sky was blue with no clouds in sight. Today was a good day. All he had to do was find Ryouga and beat him within an inch of his life. Then the day would have been perfect.

He stopped at the end of the block he was walking down and took a good look at his surroundings. He was still a relative newcomer to Nerima and he needed to get the lay of the land. There were still many things he had yet to discover. For example, that restaurant that served the ramen, the Cat Café. The food there was excellent, and the waitress was a sight to behold.

As much as he found himself actually starting to enjoy what Nerima had to offer, he had to keep his mind focused on his main objective. Ryouga had to be dealt with. With a greater purpose than before, he crossed the street and continued walking. It shouldn't have been that much farther until he made it to Ucchan's Okonomiyaki. Once there, he would make his next challenge and this time, he would be sure to win! After all, with as great a day he was having, there was no way he could lose.

-SPLASH!-

Shaking himself dry, Hayate glared up at the old woman in front of her house throwing water out in the street. It was interesting that he hadn't noticed her before. The whole experience soured what was otherwise a wonderful day. Clearly it was a sign of things to come, should he go ahead with his challenge and battle Ryouga. With a heavy sigh, the little rabbit turned around and hopped back home, leaving his brand new suit and umbrella lying on the street.

Today sucked.

Tomorrow! Tomorrow was the day he would get his revenge!

-

Dreamweaver Studios Presents

Ranma½

And the Beat Goes On

"Epilogue: Unintended Consequences"

-

After the battle had ended, everyone had moved to Dr. Tofu's office to tend to the combatants' injuries. Ukyou was lying on the furthest bed in the observation room, with Ryouga standing over her. Spring was lying on the bed closest to Dr. Tofu's office alternating between longing looks at Ryouga and staring forlornly at the ceiling. Dr. Tofu was at the cabinet where he kept his medical supplies. He and Autumn had bowls in hand, grinding medicinal herbs she gathered from her shop into paste. Ranma, Akane and Mousse all opted to remain in the waiting room.

With the paste ready, the doctor and the shop owner applied the paste to medicinal gauze. Dr. Tofu, being ready first, wrapped the gauze on the cuts and bruises on Spring's arms and legs. For the injuries on her face, he applied small dabs of the paste on her face directly, then covered them with smaller adhesive bandages.

With Spring being attended to, Autumn went to treat Ukyou. Needless to say, Ukyou was apprehensive about receiving care from her. As the Amazon knelt down to her bedside and tried to apply the gauze, Ukyou reared back. Autumn sighed, but smiled, understanding what the girl must've been thinking.

"It's okay," reassured Autumn. "I'm not holding a grudge against you for beating my sister in that fight. There are rules we have to go by. She knew what those rules were and now, we all have to abide by them."

Seeing that Ukyou still wasn't sure, Ryouga said, "You know? I think you can trust her. During the fight, she and Mousse told me she stopped Tsubasa from interfering."

"Tsubasa? What in the world was he doing there?" wondered Ukyou.

"Well when I heard that he had feelings for you, I thought he was there to harm Spring to protect you," said Autumn. "But when I confronted him, he said that he wanted to make sure that you lost, so Spring could have Ryouga and he would be free to have you."

Ukyou rolled her eyes, "That sounds like him." She looked to Ryouga, "And you saw all of this?"

"Yeah," said Ryouga with a nod.

She was still a bit unwilling, but with Ryouga's say so, Ukyou allowed Autumn to treat her wounds. "I can't believe you'd be willing to treat me after what happened. Even if you said that you didn't have a grudge...still, that is your sister."

"You'll have to learn to trust me eventually, Ukyou," said Autumn. She finished wrapping the gauze on Ukyou's wounds and stood up. Just before she walked off, she turned back and added, "After all, you're one now too."

Ukyou raised an eyebrow, "I'm one what?"

"How are they, Doctor?" Autumn asked, not answering the question.

"Some bumps and bruises. Nothing serious," said Dr. Tofu. "Though, your sister has used up a whole lot of her ki. She should stay in bed for a few days to recuperate. Even after that, she shouldn't do anything too strenuous for about a week."

"I see. Thank you," said Autumn with a bow.

"Aw, geez. Bedridden for all that time?" Spring complained.

"That's right," ordered Autumn. "I'm going to make sure you follow his orders even if I have to tie you down, you understand?"

"Fine, fine." She turned to Ryouga and with a little of the sparkle returning to her eyes, she added, "It won't be so bad if you were there with me Ryouga, hon." She gave him a wink.

"Now wait a minute!" went Ukyou, rising slowly and painfully out of her bed.

"Spring," Autumn started in a warning tone. "What have I told you before?"

Spring nodded, "I know, I know." Slowly, she at up and gave Ukyou a slight bow. "May I please have the honor of taking Ryouga to bed with me?"

Ukyou and Ryouga blinked at the question with their mouths slightly agape. Ukyou spoke up, "What...in...the..." Obviously, she wasn't speaking up too well. "Just what kind of question is that???"

"You're going to have to give her some time, Spring," Autumn said. "She doesn't know our ways yet. But this should help her." Reaching into her voluminous robe, she pulled out a book that looked frighteningly familiar to Ryouga. "This is a helpful guidebook explaining some of our rules to outsiders. It's not a full guide, but it should get you started."

Ukyou opened the book and read a few lines. After flipping a few pages, she looked back at Autumn, confused. "How am I supposed to read this? It's all in Chinese."

Ryouga looked at the book over her shoulder, knowing what to look for after witnessing a similar happening when Shampoo first appeared at the Tendos. He pointed to a section of the page and informed her, "Here, Ukyou. There's a Japanese translation."

Looking again, Ukyou rubbed the back of her head in embarrassment, "Ah, thanks. Can't believe I missed that." Now with a language she recognized, Ukyou began to read. As she got further and further down the page, her eyes widened and a look of intense anger overtook her features. "ARE YOU KIDDING ME????"

Hearing the sudden outburst, the three teens that were out in the waiting room rushed in. "Hey! What's going on?" asked Mousse. "Don't tell me Ukyou and Spring are fighting again?"

Ranma took a look at Ukyou and immediately recognized the book she was looking at. "Uh oh...is she reading what I think she's reading?"

"There's nothing wrong," Autumn reassured them. "Ukyou is just reading a bit about how we handle encounters with outsiders."

Akane looked at Ranma, "Uh oh..."

"I'm guessing that you've had to deal with something similar since you've had to deal with Shampoo," said Autumn. "I don't know exactly what the rules are for her tribe, but I would guess they aren't that much different. If an outsider male defeats one of us in battle, then we are to take that man as our husband."

"Yep, that's been very well established," said Ranma.

"No kidding," Ryouga quipped.

"If it's an outsider female that defeats one of us," Autumn continued, "then we have to give her the kiss of death and hunt her down."

"We know that pretty well too," said Ranma.

"That's what got this whole mess started," said Akane. "Spring gave Ukyou the kiss of death when we first met her."

"However," Autumn interjected, "we only have three opportunities to defeat the outsider female. If by some chance, the attempt to kill her twice fails, then the third time, they are to fight in a duel with at least two members of her tribe as witnesses. If, in that third attempt, the duel is lost, then the outsider female becomes recognized as a member of the tribe."

Ryouga's jaw dropped, "You...you mean she's an Amazon now???"

The demon hunting Amazon nodded, "But that's not all..."

"If there is a dispute between two tribal members over the affections of a single man, then the two women must fight in a duel with no less then two other tribal members as witnesses," Ukyou read from the book, trembling. "Whosoever comes out of that duel victorious shall heretofore be recognized as betrothed to the male." She looked up at Autumn and asked, "This just applies to existing members, right?"

Autumn shook her head. "It's a poorly written rule, I will admit. The way it is now is so broad that it does include new members of the tribe that just entered via the dueling process."

Ryouga gulped hearing their conversation. "What, exactly, does all this mean?"

Ukyou glared at him, "It means that under their eyes, we're engaged!"

"WHAT???"

"Wow! You're engaged now too, huh?" Ranma said, ribbing his rival. "Congratulations, man!"

"This isn't funny, Ranma!" yelled Ryouga.

"I don't see what the big deal is," Akane said. "She doesn't have to abide by those rules if she doesn't want to. She can just forget about them and go about her life like she normally does. She can't be forced to do anything she doesn't want to do."

"You're right," Autumn said with a nod. "She can reject the offer to join the tribe if she wants to. Of course, that would mean she'd have to be executed on the spot."

"Ooookay, forget I said anything," Akane retracted.

Despite the doctor's orders, Spring got up and wrapped her arms around Ryouga's neck. "Don't forget to mention my favorite part!"

"Of course not," went Autumn, raising her eyebrow at her sister's antics. "As a matter of pride, it's customary for all married women in our tribe to show off what exceptional specimens their husbands are by...-ahem-...sharing them with their tribal sisters."

The jaws of everyone in the room not an Amazon dropped. "You can't be serious?!" went Akane, astonished.

"Yep," answered Autumn. "Of course, over the years, the custom had eased up a bit so that there's no difference between married couples and engaged couples sharing."

"While biological sisters are able to share the men they're with pretty much whenever they like," Spring added, "individual non-biological family members can only do this once a month. And it's also customary for the attached woman to be asked first before the share can take place." She turned to Ukyou again and asked, "So, when can I have my first go at Ryouga?"

With a growl, the okonomiyaki chef picked up her mega spatula, which was lying next to her bed and stood to her feet with a very dangerous glare aimed at Ryouga and Spring. Ryouga knew what was coming next was going to be very unpleasant. Unfortunately, there wasn't a door to the outside in Dr. Tofu's examination room. Fortunately it wasn't hard for him to make an exit of his own. Quickly spinning around, he punched a hole into the clinic wall and made a mad dash for freedom. Spring who still had her arms wrapped around his neck, had to hang on for dear life.

"YOU JACKASSES! GET BACK HERE!!!" the irate chef yelled, chasing after them.

Everyone watched as the chase ensued. It was fortunate for Ryouga that Ukyou wasn't at one hundred percent due to the fight, but no doubt with her anger fueling her, it would only be a matter of time until Ukyou caught them and all sorts of unspeakable pain was rained down upon the both of them. With a sigh, Dr. Tofu looked at Autumn and said, "It looks like I'll be needing some more of those medicinal herbs..."

----+----+----+----+----

----+----+----+----+----

-End Book Three 


End file.
